Gray Maynard vs. Nate Diaz to Headline UFC Fight Night 20
Lightweight contender Gray Maynard and The Ultimate Fighter 5 winner Nate Diaz will meet in the main event of UFC Fight Night 20 on January 11 in Fairfax, Virginia, Diaz’s camp announced on Tuesday.
The matchup is a rematch from The Ultimate Fighter 5 semifinals, when Diaz submitted Maynard with a guillotine choke in the second-round of the bout to advance to the finals, where he defeated Manny Gamburyan to win the reality show.
Following a no contest against Rob Emerson at the TUF 5 Finale due to a double knockout, Maynard (8-0) has emerged as one of the top contenders at 155-pounds by remaining undefeated, pushing his record to 8-0 with six-straight wins inside the Octagon over the likes of Frankie Edgar, Jim Miller, and most-recently in September Roger Huerta.
After winning TUF 5 in mid-2007, Diaz (11-4) won four-straight, including wins over Kurt Pellegrino and Josh Neer, before dropping back-to-back fights to Clay Guida and Joe Stevenson. He rebounded in September with a second-round submission of Melvin Guillard in the UFC Fight Night 19 headliner.
The fight card for the Spike TV televised event also includes Josh Koscheck vs. Mike Pierce, Efrain Escudero vs. Nik Lentz, and Tom Lawlor vs. Aaron Simpson.
For the latest UFC Fight Night 20 rumors check out the MMAFrenzy.com MMA rumors section.
Pictured: Gray Maynard
Tags: Gray Maynard, Nate Diaz
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Wow! interesting fight, i think that Maynard deserved a higher ranked fighter IMO, Diaz dropped 2 in a row and won a lackluster kinda gimme fight against Maelvin Guillard who basically said “here take my neck” to Diaz while Maynard beat Frankie Edgar and my boy Roger Huerta sooo i’m thinking that Maynard should fight a top Contender but we’ll see what happens.
Maynard is going to take Diaz down the whole fight and control him there the way Guida did except that Maunard is bigger and way more powerful than Guida so Nate has his hands full. I don;t see Nate scorring a lucky sub so he’s either going to get tko’d or controlled the whole fight.
Gray Maynard via tko or decision
uh oh get ready for the “maynardians”!! lol
Haha, I think he’s talking about you Gun! Seriously though, if anyone deserves a title shot, it’s Maynard! 6 wins in a row?! C’mon! I agree with Marvel!
I thought he should have fought Frankie Edgar for the upcoming #1 contender slot…
This means after BJ defends his belt we may not see him in action for awhile, cause there’s no real consensus #1 right now.
So I kinda agree and disagree with MK4, and I guess Jazz. First, Nate’s last fight was no gimme. Guillard’s serious stuff, and really could have won that fight if he didn’t get all cocky and fake the hurt like he did before he got choked. If anything, I’d think Zuffa would put more stock in Nate than Gray as Nate’s an Ultimate Fighter, and oh yeah, he beat Gray Maynard. Not only did he beat Gray, he made him tap out. He also beat Corey Hill and Emerson in that season, two guys we still see in the UFC. Nate’s never been finished in the UFC. In Gray’s 6 wins in the UFC, only one was not a decision win.
If you ask me, Nate is not only more exciting than Gray Maynard, but he’s more skilled. Gray focuses too much on his wrestling. However, Nate’s only two loses in the UFC have come to wrestlers, so if Gray’s going to win, it’ll be by a boring stall-game. I honestly see Nate winning this by 3rd round sub,.
Ya Gray looked realy focused on his wrestling in his fight with Veres and Miller and Huerta.
Go on Carls, way to focus on one sentence of my post. Gray’s unexciting still.
so eldiablo is wrestling not a skill?…id say when it comes down to it grays wrestling is better than nates jui jitsu?…….oh ya and yes diaz beat gray …and did you know that when gray was on tuf he had only a couple months of mma training?…ya gray is the better fighter he has better hands and his ground game is better with his wrestling…..diaz has one thing and thats jui jitsu and gray has sub defense now…when he was on tuf he didnt know the difference between a guillotine and an armbar….and if you watch that fight again diaz got dominated until that armbar he was a bloddy mess and the same thing will happen again gray by bloody mess tko
guillotine*
Nicely done my friend. Eldiablo weather you like it or not Gray is gonna get past everybody at LW except BJ. And he will using his werstling boxing and submissions. He11 Gray came closer to submiting Huerta than Florian did. And they were only on the ground for one round. While Roger and Kenny were in all three.
Anything else you wanna say?
Just so we’re clear, Carls and Guns are getting their panties in a bunch because I don’t think Nate will be the pushover you claim him to be? I never said Gray was bad at anything, I just think Nate has serious skills, and obviously so does Joe Silva.
I know you Ohio boys are proud of your fighters, and for good reason. It’s just my opinion that Gray will not win as convincingly as you all claim to be the case. Read what I wrote, I said Gray might win, I’m just more of a Nate fan. Also, Diaz has excellent boxing.
And for the record, Royce got dominated for many of his fights before pulling off a sub (look at the Kimo fight), and he’s still considered one of the greatest of all time. Nate’s no Royce that’s for sure, but their approaches are the same; a good chin gets you far.
You just couldnt give my boy Gray a title shot could you Dana? Now he has to beat another one of your popular fighters and become 7-0 in the UFC.
This is a good fight nonetheless and one that Gray should be able to win. He was having his way with Diaz on TUF until he got caught. I feel that a win is possible here weather Maynard keeps it standing or takes it to the canvas. The only thing he has to watch for are the chokes of Diaz. Nate does not have the power to KO Gray, not even close. So a stand up battle would be a safe way for the Bully to get the W. On the ground though he should be able to do enough to stay out of trouble and pound on Diaz until the ref sais enough or the 3rd round comes to a close.
I like the history these guys have and it should make for a good scrap, one that with Diaz’s name and the fact that it is the main event will put Gray right in line for his long awaited(and slightly overdue) title shot. Gray haters better hope BJ wins cause if Diego does Gray will do to him what Guida did but for five rounds not two and bring the strap back to Ohio.
I am no “Maynardian” but I’ll take him on this one. I’ll agree with ElDiablo and say he is pretty unexciting but he’s solid. I think he’ll use his wrestling to keep this one standing or if it ends up goin to the ground I think Grays mature enuf now to not get cocky and get caught. I say Maynard rd2 tko standing lil or no GnP.
Tough fight for Nate but I think he brings the W back here to NorCal with him. If anyone can sub Gray it is Nate. Hopefully Nate has been hard at work on his wrestling with Jake Shields and is ready for this one. He always comes to fight so it will be good either way.
Maynard deserves a way better opponent than diaz. diaz got lucky on the show and maynard is way better now than he was then. He will demolish Nate.
well said gman
gray wins this easily….gray has avoided subs from fighters like clementi and miller and diaz will be no different maynard destroyed him on tuf for two round until he got caught in a sub in the second which by the way was gray about two months into mma training gray’s sub defense is some of the best in the lw division now and his hands are way better than nates……anyone who thinks gray is boring and unskilled needs to look at some wrestling because like ive learned in the last three months wrestling takes a ton of skill……i guess to people like eldiablo anyone who doesnt run out there and throw looping punches all day is boring….so i guess that needs to be talked about in the post because that matters aton when it comes to the fight…really grays fight with huerta was what? exciting and his fight before that with jim miller was what? exciting! ya gray has stod up with the last two opponents hes had stop complaining about wrestlers every wrestler starts out that way theres wrestlers do you really expect gray to come out there like anderson silva and ko people in thrity seconds its funny how the double standard plays out and how guida can LNP people and its exciting but when gray takes people down and works for GNP and submissions its boring……..gray by tko rnd 2
Wow dude you are on your game today. Gray would be proud.
Wow this $ucks for Maynard, WTF is joe silva at??? I would have liked to see Maynard get, Tyson Griffin or someone more up the food chain then Diaz ,I don’t think Diaz is even in the 10 Top at the moment in the UFC light weight division. Even Sean Sherk would be a good test , even tho Sherk loss his last fight. Sherk would be a way more entertaining fight.
i think they were afraid to put maynard and sherk together because ….then either way if maynard loses they would lose a contender but if sherk loses then it will be hard to build him back up in the divison…..i do agree though i dont understand why they didnt put him and tyson together they both have said before they are willing to fight and theyre best friends…..aka could learn a thing from maynard and tyson
Plus Dana could try a bonus or two for thank both guys for taking the fight. Maybe throw them both there win bonus + a 60k bonus only if they don’t win a fight night or ko or sub bonus.
Um, what?
How the fu<k does Maynard draw Nate Diaz?!
The Bully coming off of yet another impressive win versus some manorexic smart-a$$ who's dropped 2 of his last 3?
Sometimes Joe Silva delivers, and then sometimes we get a sh!t fight like this one.
If I'm Maynard I'm pretty p!ssed that I rate Thtockton's most annoying 155er, and if I'm a guy like Guida, Sherk, Stevenson, or any other contending 155er, I'm He11a pleased that Maynard will be kicking the crap out of some other poor b@stard at UFN 20.
In the past I've had some fun goofing with and goofing on the Maynardians here at the frenZy, but they have every right to be p!ssed off when their boy gets such a sh!t fight from the UFC.
Signing Maynard to fight Diaz is almost as if they signed Jon Jones to fight Kyle Kingsbury or some goofy sh!t like that.
I know its not in Maynard's nature, but when Joe Silva called Maynard about his next opponent he should have told Joe Silva to go fu<k himself to death for offering him Nate Diaz, but instead the conversation sadly went something like this:
Joe Silva: "hi Gray, this is Joe Silva, and I have your next fight all lined up, its against that annoying-as-fu<k little sh!tstain Nate Diaz"
Gray Maynard: "thats funny stuff, Joe. I thought for a second you were serious, and was getting ready to giggle my a$$ off. But seriously, who am I fighting next? Sherk? Florian? Joe Daddy?"
Joe Silva: "Um, Gray, I was being serious. You know how Dana loves the fu<k out of his Ultimate Fighter winners, and with Nate's career stalled we're hoping a fight with you will help him out, you being undefeated and all"
Gray Maynard: "Are you fu<king serious right now? You're asking me for a solid and in return you give me Nate Fu<king Diaz?! Have you been blazing with Rogan and Bravo again? Did you forget I just threw your Sports Illustrated poster boy Huerta a beating at the last UFN"
Joe Silva: "Gray, that was a close fight, and all of Huerta's fans said so. Your 2 choices are take the fight or go on Dana's sh!t list, dude. You've been here long enough to know that being on the UFC roster is like being the new guy in prison, in that you don't know exactly where or when its going to happen, but at some point you're going to get fu<ked in the a$$. The difference between prison and the UFC is that here you're going to be asked to smile for the cameras, appear grateful for the raping, and pretend that you like said a$$-fu<king for the media and the fanbase."
Gray Maynard: "Sigh. Whatever. Just fax my handlers the paperwork, and fu<k you very much Joe, and have a sh!tty day. I know I will."
Wow dude if you wanna be a Maynardian, you just did it with one post.
Funniest sh1t ive read in a week
Jcohl belive me im not happy Gray isnt getting a title shot, but he has to fight someone in the mean time. I would have preferred it to be Sherk, but IMO he would beat him easier than alot of people think and make Sean look even worse than he does right now. But Diaz weather you like hate him or loath him him, has some popularity with the casual fans. So a win over him will give Gray a bit more credibiliyt and mainstream appeal. I also think they are trying to do with Gray the same thing they did with Fitch. By making him fight 7-8 times before getting a shot so that when the time comes they can hype him up as being udefeated and winning 7 straight inside the octagon plus with wins in main event free shows like last fight night and now this one its obvious they are trying to give him a big push a for a title shot. I would love to see Gray just blast Nate and get a KO. Catapulting him in to the #1 contender status and giving him some serious momentum and confidence. For what will surely be a difficult fight with Penn. Or an easy one with Sanchez.
From your perspective jcohl this is kinda reminiscent of them throwing Jeremy Horn in with Chuck. Except that was for the title. Cleaning up past losses and is a theme the UFC has long liked to employ and I’m thinking were going to see a lot of hype on that note leading up to this fight. I agree that this fight doesn’t do much for Maynard, unless you look at if from the avenge the loss perspective which is probably how Silva convinced Maynard this is a good fight for him.
@ carls – much obliged for the kind words, my friend.
I do try to entertain my frenZied brothers with the occasional humerous comment or 2…
@ naturaldizaster – good call on the avenging past losees thing.
I’m not saying the fight has zero merit, I just think that we’re running into the situation more and more frequently where popularity is determining matchmaking, and as fans we need to be super-critical of this to prevent our sport from devolving into state carnival booth fights or sh!t like pro wrestling, where “matches” are signed based on t-shirt sales, reality TV appearances, facebook, twitter, and any other non-competative metric of popularity…
This fight amps me up. Seems like most of the consensus likes one or the other; I really like both fighters. Gun; here’s your chance to redeem yourself bro as I will take Diaz in this fight. Back up your boy Maynard man, I like him but am not a big fan, I also think Diaz is more well rounded than people give him credit for. I think he can either TKO Maynard OR sub him, and am banking on him to be elusive enough to stay out of the clinch and not let Maynard get on top. I do have my reservations and doubt that Diaz could’ve done as well against the top notch Huerta we saw, but I’m going with Diaz here. Gun…I think you know what time it is
I agree that diaz might be a little more well rounded, but i also think he’s a little more overrated.
I’ll start off by saying that nate’s fight and win against guillard were not impressive at all. They danced around taunting eachother like idiots imo, then guillard(what is he a white belt in jj!?!?) basically says “here dude take my neck and choke me out, if you act fast it also comes with a win and shot at a top contender”. Not impressed at all.
I think both fighters have an even chance at winnins. Maynard’s hands are a lot better and a lot faster lately but diaz’s boxing is decent and has more reach that will be usefull when preventing maynard from shooting. Maynard is like 5 million times stronger and will out wrestle him to the ground BUT diaz’s jj it’s pretty damn sick and subd dudes more than once off of his back. If maynard can use his hand speed to pick him apart, and take him down and pund him while avoiding a sub, he’ll win and get his much deserved title shot.
The only way i see nate winning is off of his back by triangle.
I don’t know I like this fight for Maynard. It allows him to get one more fight in before he gets to challenge for the belt. I think with his sub defence if he plays safe. Sets up his shots with his classic 1-2 over hand right and grinds out a tko or decision. It’s a good win solidifing his shot at the title and doesn’t give BJ any excuses to take a long lay off because their isn’t a clear cut contender. If the bully wins and he should they will be signing his name on the next 155 title shot as he will be the clear cut #1 contender.
It would kill me if he lost to diaz though, and this is one of those fights that if he’s not 100%, or he doesn’t take him seriously he could get caught and really hurt his chances bringing him back 2-3 good fights to be concidered the #1 contender.
He is getting a chance to avenge his loss. Why would that not be an exciting fight to put out for the fans? Remember UFC is not about pairing up contenders it’s about making exciting fights that can be hyped.
This is that. I agree with people who say Maynard is boring.. YAWN finish fights plz. I always like watching Nate go after submission after submission.. maybe he will come out and surprise everyone.