SB Nation’s David St. Martin caught up with Gray Maynard, the man who will challenge Frankie Edgar for the UFC lightweight title at UFC 125. The interview has a lot of goodness including talk about how deserving he feels the WEC fighters are of competing in the UFC. But the part that sticks out most to me is this exchange where Maynard talks about his boxing and how Edgar’s focus on Penn may give him an advantage:
Edgar seems to have flourished in a new, little used striking style. Rather than using his footwork to set up his right hand, Edgar comes in and out of striking range and is content to just get his hands out there, utilizing his head movement and being a difficult target for power shots.
“I box with a lot of pros and a couple of them do, in fact, do that. Not as much power with a lot of movement. It’s just one style. He’s smaller so I don’t know if he has a lot of power. It’s kind of more like amateur boxing with the points.”
Something interesting to keep an eye out for in this fight will be how Edgar deals with a striker who will put a bit more heat on him. Did Edgar adapt so much in his fights with BJ Penn that he may now have a tough time fighting someone who doesn’t have a more lackadaisical boxing style?
“That’s a good observation. I think the guys he’s fought after me — Sherk and Penn — were a ‘come forward’ style that liked being on the inside. They didn’t have a lot of coming in and out with head movement. I think he’s gotten away with a lot of stuff that he does with these certain guys.”
“I think he’s going to try to do the in and out thing, try to get me on my back a couple times. I think he believes he can go the entire time without getting slower, wearing me out. He wants to try to lock up rounds one through three just with the ‘hit and move’ and then open up in rounds four and five. That’s not what’s going to happen, for sure.”
We’ll see if Maynard is right come January. But for as much hate as this fight is getting for it’s potential to be boring, I’m actually excited to watch a really interesting style clash.