Maynard: My stand-up is at the top
FAIRFAX, Va. – The accusation came up again at Sunday’s fighter Q-and-A with lightweight Frankie Edgar from a sneering audience…
FAIRFAX, Va. – The accusation came up again at Sunday’s fighter Q-and-A with lightweight Frankie Edgar from a sneering audience member. Is Gray Maynard going for another “lay and pray” decision?
That’s not a compliment in MMA circles. And to make matters worse for Maynard, Urban Dictionary invokes his name in defining the term.
Maynard’s ready for all that talk to end.
“My last two (against Jim Miller and Roger Huerta) have been pretty much all stand-up,” Maynard said backstage at Sunday’s weigh-in. “There’s people that kind of get it in their head, and they don’t let it go. You can’t please everyone. I know my stand-up is at the top, so I’m not stressing it at all.”
Edgar didn’t take the bait in the Q-and-A even though Maynard handed him his sole loss. Randy Couture, who trains with Maynard and is in Fairfax with him, said Maynard’s style in that fight was effective.
“Frankie’s a tough opponent, and in that fight, Gray did what he needed to do to beat Frankie, and that was to take him down and make it hard for him to get out from underneath Gray,” Couture says. “I didn’t find that boring, but some people might.”
Couture says Maynard is a more complete fighter these days, especially heading into Monday’s bout with Nate Diaz, who beat Maynard on The Ultimate Fighter.