UFC
UFC 125 RESULTS: Frankie Edgar retains title by split draw in classic war with Gray Maynard
Jan 2, 2011 - 9:07:25 AM UFC 125 RESULTS: Frankie Edgar retains title by split draw in classic war with Gray Maynard

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The UFC's first main event of 2011 set the bar high for "Fight of the Year" consideration, as Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard battled it out in a classic war that ended in a split draw.

But this fight was nearly over before it began, as Maynard nearly finished the fight in the first round. He landed a right early that knocked Edgar down and sent him somersaulting backwards, but the resilient Champion tried to regain his bearings. Maynard, however, continued the assault, knocking Edgar down multiple times with hooks and straight punches, and landing shots on the ground as Edgar tried to grab a leg to recover. By the end of the round, Edgar had recovered enough to land a few punches, but the fact that he survived at all was the lasting impression.

According to the FightMetric stats for the fight, Maynard landed 47 punches in the first round as he attempted to put Edgar away. His failure to do so allowed the Champion to get back in the fight, and in a show of true heart and ability, Edgar did just that.

Edgar came out in the second round out-struck Maynard 21-6, but that wasn't the most surprising part of the round. Stuffing two of Maynard's takedowns during the round, Edgar actually managed to pick up the bigger, stronger Maynard and slam him to the ground.

This was one of the key differences between the two fights these two have had. In their first meeting, Maynard was able to control the fight with his wrestling. In this fight, Edgar stuffed almost every takedown attempt from Maynard, and in the process out-worked him on the feet as well. Not only that, but Edgar took Maynard down three times in the fight himself. It was an incredible performance that saw Edgar win the second, fourth and fifth rounds on two of the judges scorecards, while one of those judges also gave Edgar the third. The third judge gave Maynard the third and the fifth, which led to scores of 47-47 and 48-46 for each fighter.

The third round featured Maynard's most successful takedown near the end of the round, but Edgar countered with submission attempts, including a guillotine choke that was locked in as the horn sounded.

At any rate, the Champion retained his belt after surviving a vicious onslaught from the challenger in the first round. It was one of the more remarkable comebacks the sport has seen, and would have only been made greater had Edgar pulled out the victory at the end of the night. But the absolute classic battle will have fans clamoring for more, and it will lead to a much bigger rematch down the line.

Penick's Analysis: With so many people looking down on this matchup because of how the first fight went down, this one blew expectations away. It was incredible how Edgar was able to survive that beating from Maynard in the first round, only to come back and, in my opinion, win every round the rest of the way. The third round was really close, but I thought Edgar out-struck Maynard, and his submission attempts nullified the fact that he was taken down. For Maynard, he's going to have to deal with the missed opportunity of not being able to finish that fight in the first round with the beating he delivered. For Edgar, he put together a comeback for the ages and kept the belt around his waist.