HOUSTON, TX, October 4, 2011 – Heading into this Saturday’s main event title match, UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar is poised as ever to make a statement and validate his status as the undisputed champion of the world yet again against the first man to ever beat him in Gray Maynard.
Their epic saga first began in April of 2008. That’s when “The Bully” gave him the very first loss of his career after he began in the sport with an eight-fight winning streak including names like Jim Miller, Tyson Griffin, and others. Streaking into contention at the time, Frankie’s run would be delayed but not stopped altogether. He would go on to win five fights in a row, including two back-to-back wins against B.J. Penn that would put him atop of the world at 155.
Then along came Gray Maynard again, this time as a challenger for Frankie’s title after winning his own five fights in a row to earn his own shot at the belt.
Gray was still undefeated when they met at UFC 125 this past January while Frankie had never lost to any not named Gray. Both men had a lot on the line. The champion was looking for redemption against the only blemish on his otherwise spotless record while the challenger was looking to claim the belt against a fighter he had already beat.
That fight had all the makings for a thrilling conclusion but then it happened…
Twenty-five minutes of non-stop action in their epic match started left the two juggernauts at the same point they were at before – a DRAW… a conclusion that was no conclusion at all.
This weekend in Houston, it’s finally all coming to a head, the same story as before but hopefully with a different ending.
“It’s a unique position to be training for a guy for this long,” says Frankie. “I’ve been training for the same two guys for two years (Penn, Maynard) so I guess I’m kind of used to it.”
With that familiarity serving as the precipice towards the end of a trilogy that will seek to define the rest of his career, the champion now looks to approach the bout from a different angle than before to give him the edge towards final judgment in his favor.
“It’s a challenge but I just have to come up with another game plan and series of attack. There are a lot of situations to base this training camp off of but you have to come up with new stuff. I had a full training camp before I got hurt so I didn’t miss a beat. I just took the time to get healthy and got right back to it; grinding and trying to improve every way possible. My biggest thing in every fight is to try and be a better fighter than my last time we have and I believe I accomplish that.”
Now it’s time to finally see how this thing ends this Saturday in Houston. Let’s hope it’s an epic ending to an already-epic saga.
Any thoughts on who will win it all? Feel free to chime in with your thoughts.
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