Together, Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard gave us arguably the greatest trilogy in MMA history. As of the start of 2021, the rematch was 10 years ago.
Incredibly, Edgar remains a top contender in the sport today as a 135-pound bantamweight. Yet his claim to fame came at 155-pounds as the UFC lightweight champ. During his run, he and Maynard gave us two of the greatest bouts of all time.
First meeting in April 2008, the unbeaten 4-0 Maynard would hand the then 9-0 Frankie Edgar his first career loss via unanimous judgeâs call. Three years later on New Yearâs day 2011, they put on an instant that resulted in a split draw.
âIâll be straight up honest, I donât remember much of that fight,â Edgar said on The Bo & Glow MMA Show. âAfter that first round, I was definitely in la-la land. I donât think until the third or possibly fourth round I remember coming to, in a sense. And the reason I came to was because I remember my ankle â Iâm moving around and Iâm like, âDamn, why is my ankle hurting so bad?â In the first round when I got dropped I sprained my ankle really, really bad. And I had no idea how it happened.
âEven after the fight, I was upset because a draw to me â it wasnât what I wanted. I wanted to go over there and get the win and obviously, I didnât know what I did.
âI was talking to my coach Mark [Henry], he was like, âDude, wait until you see this fight. You got takedowns,â and I was like, âI took him down?!'â Frankie Edgar said with a laugh. âI had no idea I even took him down. After watching it, thatâs when it kind of all came back to me. But yeah, I didnât really come back until the fourth round and I remember going into the fifth and theyâre saying I got one more round. Iâm like one more round? What happened to two and three? I didnât even know what happened.â
Later that same year, the Toms River native would even the score and knockout âThe Bullyâ in the fourth round of their trilogy bout.
A full decade later and Edgar, 39, is now matched with Cory Sandhagen in a pivotal bantamweight clash on Feb. 6. As for Maynard, he was released from the UFC in 2019. He went 3-6 after his last two bouts with âThe Answerâ.
Itâs funny because they promoted UFC and promoted the Ultimate Fighter where Nate Diaz tapped out Gray Maynard but since it was âexhibitionâ he technically gets to stay undefeated but most people were aware Nate Diaz had already submitted Gray Maynard.
Grayâs rematch with Nate went even worst than the first fight.
Itâs funny because they promoted UFC and promoted the Ultimate Fighter where Nate Diaz tapped out Gray Maynard but since it was "exhibition" he technically gets to stay undefeated but most people were aware Nate Diaz had already submitted Gray Maynard.
Grayâs rematch with Nate went even worst than the first fight.
TUF gave them an opportunity to have their cake and eat it too.