Gray Maynard has never been beaten in the Octagon, but his “boring” style has often worked against him. Specifically, a lackluster showing against Nate Diaz, in what was originally expected to represent his final checkpoint before a shot at the UFC Lightweight Championship, required him to continue proving himself before getting a crack at the belt.
He had the chance to do that against high-level contender Kenny Florian, who would be fighting in front of his hometown Boston crowd in Boston, MA. The winner was supposedly guaranteed a title shot against the winner of Frankie Edgar vs. BJ Penn (a fact that was confirmed when Joe Rogan interviewed the winner).
Who won? The result follows:
Gray Maynard b. Kenny Florian via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Story of the fight: The idea here was simple–if Gray Maynard stuck to his wrestling against Florian, who has notoriously struggled to defend high-level takedowns, he would win the fight. If he, in the spirit of fighters like Sean Sherk, decided to become a boxer, he would probably get torn apart by the superior striker.
It took longer than usual, and he even suffered a solid punch from Florian in round one, but with less than a minute left in the first round, he eventually moved to the wrestling and controlled Florian on the ground. His takedowns came much earlier in rounds two and three, and he pulled off an easy decision victory.
People will criticize Maynard for this often “boring” fight, but the reality is that Florian deserves just as much, if not more, of the blame. Florian’s takedown defense has improved, but it clearly is not strong enough to ward off top-level wrestlers. And that lack of confidence, combined with what appeared to be some additional nervousness on the feet, prevented him from really going wild with the strikes. He never really put forth much offense, and the result was that Maynard’s takedowns and occasional ground-and-pound served as the only noteworthy offense in the bout.
Even when he blocked them, Maynard did not seem to love Florian’s kick attempts. Florian simply did not feel comfortable throwing enough of them at a good wrestler, and the result was a fight that followed the model of most Gray Maynard bouts.