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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
It's been 11 months since the last time Gray Maynard stepped in the cage, but he'll make his return to the cage Saturday night at UFC 160. That last outing was a frustrating affair, a three round fight with Clay Guida where Maynard was just begging Guida to engage while chasing him around the cage.
It ultimately ended up being a split decision in his favor, but had one other judge seen things the other way, that could have been his third straight fight without a win. Had that happened, we may not have seen Maynard make his eventual return.
"Most of the time, people get pissed at what I'm doing [in a fight]," Maynard commented in an interview with MMAJunkie.com. "But that time, I got pissed at what he was doing. It's an emotional sport. That happened, and thank God I got the win on that – because I don't even think I'd be in the sport right now."
"I don't even want to talk about it. I can't believe it was a split. [But] it happened. I thought long and hard about that."
Thankfully he doesn't need to focus on that, as he'll return to the cage against T.J. Grant on Saturday night reinvigorated, and ready to enjoy himself in the cage with a potential title shot on the line.
"Being in the game, going through all those battles, it's become pretty enjoyable," Maynard said. "I enjoy everything now – the camps, the crowd, the cheers, the boos, punching, getting punched. It's a fun job, and you've got to take it in and enjoy it. That's all I'm doing now. I go out and do the best I can, give it my all and enjoy the whole thing of it."
Penick's Analysis: It would have been a shame for him to walk away if he had lost that fight, because 90% of the blame for the way that fight went down belongs to Guida. But he got the win, as he should have, and has taken the time to shake it out of his mind, change things up with his training, travel around the world to do so, and he's ready to return in a big way on Saturday night. It's going to be a huge fight for him and Grant, so if he's entering in a good place that bodes well for his chances.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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