Following a fantastic night of fights at UFC 125, the Ultimate Fighting Championship has more of a buzz entering 2011 than both Rex Ryan and Brett Favre’s sex scandals combined.
After 25 minutes of incredible back-and-forth action, the main event fight between lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard was ruled a draw.
The decision garnered a huge mixed response from fight fans worldwide. Some believe the draw was justified while others believe Edgar or Maynard were robbed from a hard-earned victory from the judges.
I myself have re-watched the bout three times since and have formulated a new perspective each time.
Obviously I’m not a judge so my opinion doesn’t matter but here is my round-by-round analysis of this fight and how I would have scored it.
Round 1: 10-8 Maynard
Honestly, and this has been brought up several times in the past two days, this easily could have been scored a 10-7 round in favor of Maynard.
The challenger dropped Edgar early in the round with a powerful left hook and continued to pound on the champion for the entire round.
According to CompuStrike, Maynard landed 44 out of 76 strikes and 39 of those were power punches.
Edgar, to his credit, survived the early onslaught and landed some decent strikes at the start of the round, but he was dropped a total of three times by Maynard.
If referee Yves Lavigne stopped the fight in the first few minutes, few would have complained.
Round 2: 10-9 Edgar
A true champion comes back from the brink of defeat and finds a way to win. That is exactly what Edgar did in the second round of this high caliber championship battle.
Maynard slowed down drastically this round. The challenger was only able to land eight out of 27 strikes this round to Edgar’s 22 out of 52.
Focused on following up the first round and knocking Edgar out, Maynard was stuck in head hunting mode and it cost him.
Edgar was able to utilize superb footwork and hand speed to out box the Xtreme Couture standout.
But what surprised most pundits was Edgar’s ability to out-wrestle the larger Maynard this round. When they first fought three years ago, Maynard took Edgar down at will constantly.
This time, Edgar stuffed Maynard’s takedowns and took him down with a big slam midway through the round.
Round 3: 10-9 Maynard
Maynard regained his composure in the third frame. His boxing technique was very crisp, and his footwork was on par. The elusive movements of Edgar were put on display again, but unlike the second round, Maynard wasn’t just walking straight forward.
Both fighters landed 40-50 percent of their strikes thrown. Edgar threw great combinations and added in a few leg kicks to mix things up, but Maynard landed the more significant blows.
The striking exchanges were close, but Maynard won the round with a takedown at the end. Although Edgar threatened with a guillotine choke when the round came to a halt but it wasn’t enough.
Round 4: 10-9 Edgar
Much like the second round, Maynard seemed fatigued, and Edgar capitalized.
The champion scored with a takedown very early and followed up with a guillotine choke attempt.
Maynard escaped the submission, but was quickly taken down by Edgar for a second time. Maynard was much slower with his punches and was only able to 10 strikes.
Edgar countered a majority of Maynard’s strikes and landed 26 of his own. He also dominated in the wrestling aspect scoring three takedowns and stuffing one.
Round 5: 10-9 Maynard
The final frame was the toughest one to call. In fact, my scoring of this round changed each time I watched the bout.
Both fighters stuffed each other’s takedowns attempts and swung for the fences standing. Edgar landed more, 32 out of 76 to be exact, but Maynard connected with harder strikes.
Initially I gave the fifth to Edgar but after re-watching this particular round multiple times, my stance has changed. Many will likely disagree, but when scoring strikes, shouldn’t quality over quantity come into play?
Edgar connected with some solid combinations, but he didn’t really land anything significant. Maynard, on the other hand, threw Edgar off balance with power shots. While they weren’t extremely damaging strikes, they seemed to be more significant than what Edgar was landing.
My unofficial scoring of the fight: 48-46 for Gray Maynard
However, I do believe the draw was a justifiable call, and one that has great benefits.
As much as I dislike the idea of a championship fight ending without a clear winner, this truly was an evenly matched bout.
The trilogy fight is going to sell more tickets than a Justin Bieber concert, and I guarantee you we will see another classic matchup when that time comes.
Mitch Ciccarelli is the sexiest columnist in MMA. A staff writer for Heavy MMA, featured columnist for B/R and host of Crouching Tiger Hidden Leprechaun MMA Radio, Ciccarelli is also a future United States Airman beginning basic training this March. He is also engaged to Eva Mendes and Jessica Simpson. Follow Ciccarelli on twitter, unless you have herpes. @MitchCiccarelli
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