Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar battle to a split draw
Frankie Edgar didn’t leave UFC 125 a winner, but he left the event with his lightweight championship belt. Opponent Gray…
Frankie Edgar didn’t leave UFC 125 a winner, but he left the event with his lightweight championship belt.
Opponent Gray Maynard battered the champion with a first-round beatdown, but Edgar survived and ultimately evened up the score with the judges, who scored a rousing five-round championship bout a disappointing draw.
The nail-biter headlined Saturday’s “UFC 125: Resolution” pay-per-view card at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Things began disastrously for Edgar, who was floored early with a left hook. The champ tried to get back to his feet, but two quick and flush uppercuts sent him to the mat for a second time. The rest of the frame was spent in survival mode as Maynard landed a total of 97 punches, but Edgar somehow got out of the round. However, all three judges scores it 10-8 for Maynard.
In the second, Edgar shook off the cobwebs and got the better of the standup. He landed multiple big blows in the boxing-heavy round, including a pair of jaw-rattling right hands, and he punctuated his comeback with a high-flying power-slam takedown toward the end of the round.
Appropriately, the fighters finally were on the same page in the third, a back-and-forth round in which both Maynard and Edgar landed some heavy blows. Maynard may have gotten the edge, but Edgar evened the score in the fourth with quick footwork, pinpoint-accurate punches and an effective sprawl.
In what surely both fighters and corners considered a pivotal fifth round, things were a bit more conservative. Neither fighter wanted to gamble with so much on the line, and each looked to counter-strike the other. Maynard’s takedown attempts were easily thwarted, but Edgar’s punches were just as easily avoided. The champ slipped through a right hook in the final minute, but Maynard returned one of his own.
No clear winner emerged from the final frame, and the judges, too, were split on that verdict. And it carried over to the final scores.
After a few tense and uncertain moments, they rendered their verdict: a draw via scores of 48-46, 46-48 and 47-47.
Gray “The Bully” Maynard Vs. Frankie “The Answer” Edgar
Fight was scheduled for 5 rounds (5x5x5x5x5) – Fight was for the Lightweight Title
Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard fight to a draw (48-46, 46-48, 47-47)