Frankie Edgar finally had “The Answer” to Gray Maynard in Saturday’s UFC 136 main event, as Edgar retained the UFC lightweight title with a fourth-round TKO of “The Bully” in another “Fight of the Year” contender in Houston, Texas.
Like their second fight that ended in a draw in January, Edgar was dominated and nearly finished by the challenger Maynard in the opening round, but narrowly survived again. After regaining his composure in the second, Edgar attacked with more combinations and leg kicks in the third and hurt Maynard following a takedown attempt in the fourth.
Edgar chased Maynard down near the fence and dropped him with a right before forcing the referee to step in after a barrage of unanswered punches on the ground.
Edgar improves to 14-1-1 after avenging his loss and draw to Maynard, who suffered his first defeat to fall to 10-1-1.
UFC 136 also saw featherweight champion Jose Aldo top Kenny Florian, Chael Sonnen submitting Brian Stann to likely earn a rematch with Anderson Silva, Nam Phan outpointing Leonard Garcia in their featherweight rematch, and Joe Lauzon stunning lightweight contender Melvin Guillard in just 47-seconds.
The complete UFC 136 results are below, and also check out all of MMAFrenzy.com’s UFC 136 recaps and play-by-play by clicking here:
MAIN CARD
- Frankie Edgar (c) def. Gray Maynard via TKO (punches) – Round 4, 3:54
UFC Lightweight Championship - Jose Aldo (c) def. Kenny Florian via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46)
UFC Featherweight Championship - Chael Sonnen def. Brian Stann via submission (arm triangle) – Round 2, 3:51
- Nam Phan def. Leonard Garcia via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Joe Lauzon def. Melvin Guillard via submission (rear naked choke) – Round 1, 0:47
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Demian Maia def. Jorge Santiago via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Anthony Pettis def. Jeremy Stephens via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Stipe Miocic def. Joey Beltran via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
- Darren Elkins def. Tiequan Zhang via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-27)
- Aaron Simpson def. Eric Schafer via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Mike Massenzio def. Steve Cantwell via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
Pictured: Frankie Edgar
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I expect Frankie Edgar to win, but I didn’t expect him to knock Gray Maynard out. Good job Frankie!!
Congrats to Edgar! The Champ is Here to stay!!! That kid is tough!!!!
I was just atching the press conference and Dana says that Frankie Edgar is the #2 p4p fighter on the planet, ahead of GSP. He also said that anyone who doesn’t agree with him is an idiot and wrong.
That guy must be real high on that California skunk if he thinks Frankie ranks above GSP on the p4p scale. I don’t understand why he always makes such brash statements in the heat of the moment. He’s nuts man.
He thinks this for the same reason some other people (all be it a small percentage) think it, for the simple reason that he just won with a finish. GSP hasn’t finished anyone since UFC 94. Now I am not saying I agree with this statement, but I am not going to call anyone crazy who agrees.
Pound for pound is about accomplishments and quality of opponents. GSP’s quality of opponents cannot be compared to Frankie. He’s a great fighter but he earned his title shot with a win over Matt Veach ffs.
He fought Jim Miller before he was a title contender, Tyson Griffin, Hermes Franca, Mark Bocek, Spencer Fisher and Sean Sherk. These wins with maybe the exception of Sherk don’t put you into the #2 p4p spot. I think Dana needs to chill out, he sounds like a friggin tool.
Yea, you can definitely tell he’s sipping his own Dana White kool-aid and really believes that what he says is gospel.
You can’t say that he’s ahead of GSP. Period. He doesn’t face the same level of competition as GSP and doesn’t perform as well as GSP. He can talk all that “he’s a 45′er fighter as a 55′er” noise, but he’s not going out there and smashing people either.
Even if you want to talk about decisions, Edgar has 14 wins, 6 finishes (3 (t)ko and 3 subs), 8 decisions and a draw, with one loss (avenged once, and a draw once)
GSP on the other hand, has 22 wins with 13 finishes [8 KOs and 5 subs (and one less finish than Edgar's total WINS)], 9 decisions and no draws, with 2 avenged losses, one of which was “avenged” twice.
Edgar’s bested two champs/former champs in Sean Sherk (dec) and BJ Penn (both dec), while GSP has beaten 5 champs/former champs to include Sherk (TKO), BJ Penn [one dec and one TKO (not answering the bell)], Matt Serra (tko), Matt Hughes (one ko and one sub) and Jake Shields (dec).
So GSP did better against the two common opponents they have and has the more impressive resume and has defended the title 6 consecutive times against more dangerous, as well as just MORE, opponents. Frankie has only fought with/for the belt against two guys.
There’s more that I found, but think that’s enough for now. That, and I lost my train of thought, lol.
I mean, its Dana’s company and he’s the one with the microphone, but I think we can all agree, at least most reasonable people can, that Edgar is good… very good, but he’s not ahead of GSP on this (however imaginary) pound for pound list of fighters.
Feel free to open up the flame gates.
he has fought similar opponents, but danas point is the weight difference. i dont agree with him but i dont think thats a good omparison since GSP has like 30 or 40 pounds on edgar. I definitely think its an interesting point of view that hes number 2, but i definitely dont agree. how can you say hes better than GSP? in some areas yes. he definitely has more heart than GSP. He might eveen have better cardio. neither of them ever get tired thought so i dont know about that. GSP has been around longer and has accomplished much more. He’s number 2 in my eyes, but pound for pound is all about opinion
Uh, Rynoman, that’s the exact point of “pound for pound.” It makes the weight differences irrelevant. That’s basically saying that were Edgar GSP’s weight, he would be able to beat him, as he would be the better fighter.
Watch, if GSP goes out there and destroys Condit, Dana will sit back at the presser and start building up GSP again.
No flaming from me bro, you’re right on point.
I was talkin about your comparison that they had similar opponents and GSP did better against those opponents. I know what pound for pound is and thats why i was saying it wasnt a good comparison. Similar opponents isnt a good comparison when it comes to pound for pound since both Sherk and Penn are smaller than GSP and bigger than Edgar, I just didnt do a good job specifying which comparison I was talking about
And I totally agree. Dana hypes uup whoever did good most recently. It seems every post fight conference he brings up pound for pound
Edgar hasn’t fought any body not named B.J. or Gray in about 3 years. I’m bored with him, I want to see how Cerrone, B. Henderson, or Melendez do.
Pretty sure that Edgar fights who the UFC or DW wants him to fight. Those other fighters will earn their chances. No reason to be bored with Edgar he is a great fighter that puts up great fights.
How can you be bored with Edgar! Did you not watch his last 2 fights? IMO he is one of the most exciting guys in mma, and Maynard would dominate the 3 guys you listed, Edgar will do the same. I’d like to see Edgar vs Aldo. Maynard vs guillard
On a completely unrelated note, under the “events” secion of MMAFrenzy, did I read correctly that they are putting Wanderlai Silva against Vitor Belfort? Man Dana must really want the Axe Murderer to retire. Arguably the weakest chin in all of MMA vs arguably the most devastating puncher. This will not end pretty.
wanderlei is going to fight cung le in the co-main event, cung was supposed to fight vitor but the phenom pulled out because of an injury i believe
it has been edited to Wanderlei Silva v Cung Le set for UFC 139, thx
sorry, @ ufc 139. it is the co-main event of the shogun/hendo fight
That’s what I origionally thought, but this very site is reporting A. Silva Belfort instead….
I have edited the Wanderlei Silva v Vitor Belfort for UFC 139 to Wanderlei v Cung Le , thx for the heads up.
Cool. That would have been an ugly fight!
So happy to see Edgar overcome another first round beating only to rake home a TKO victory. Heart of a champion! I predict he will continue to be the underestimated, but I hope he starts to get the marketing push and respect he deserves.
i’m upset with guillard, i would of loved to see guilard vs edgar. He took the fight to lightly.
Me too!! I was so devastated. Guillard is awesome to watch and he has the ability to KO anyone at lightweight. I like Lauzon, but i just dont see him goin anywhere. I dont think he’ll get the title or even a shot at it
I don’t think he took the fight lightly – he just got caught. His look after the fight was one of disappointment and disbelief… not one of regret. He didn’t get outclassed like Stann did against Sonnen, he just got caught. I think Melvin would take 6 or 7 out of 10 over JLau, but that being said, anyone who wants to be the number one contender needs to take these kind of fights. LW is a crazy and competitive division, so there is little room for error against the second-tier guys.
i think he didn’t respect lauzon stand up, and i was surprised he got rocked so easily. I have seen guillard get rocked before by i think jeremy stevens but he was able to recover.
So who do you guys think will fight Edgar next?
Ben Henderson? I don’t exactly think he’s done enough for that shot yet but I just don’t see who else gets it now that Henderson beat Miller and Guillard lost last night.
Well “BenSon” has a date with a “carpenter” in a few months and that will determine the next challenger to Edgar. I think though when Melendez comes over to the UFC he should get a shot at whoever the champ is at the time. But I think an even better idea would be for him to fight Maynard. If he wins bring on the champ. If Maynard wins then give him the winner of ceronne vs siver.
It actually is quite possible that Melendez could get an immediate shot, even before Bendo, Dana has said as much. Frankie has also said he’d be very interested in fighting Melendez.
even though guillard lost, i think that would be a great challenge for edgar. The lw division is so stacked it’s hard to go on a win streak for long.
First thing first on this Frankie Edgar thing.
A lot of MMA observers, myself included, either underestimated or undervalued [or both] Edgar as both a fighter and a commodity.
Don’t we all, myself again included, look pretty fu<king stupid.
;-)
Second, Dana White can say whatever he likes about "pound for pound rankings" as he's the figurative fat kid in the baby pool.
Not only is the p4p deal a myth to begin with, but DW himself dials up a different track of bullsh!t depending on who main-events the PPV the presser follows.
And the LAST word a guy like Dana White should be using is "rankings"
By now everyone from the most hardcore fanatic to the most casual troll knows that the UFC is run like DW's personal fight club, and there is NO current objective and legitimate criteria for determining fighter rankings, other than MAYBE how much money you bring to the party.
And there doesn't look to be any on the horizon.
Third and finally, it seems likely that Frankie Edgar's next opponent might be Jose Aldo, at least if you look at the money.
I know on first read thats going to maybe look ridiculous, but there are maybe a dozen talented and qualified 155 contenders out there that need to sort themselves out in an unoffical "tournament", and other than little-known Chad Mendes [no disrespect intended] Aldo is left without a date to his next prom, so to speak.
Assuming both guys walked out of Houston without serious injury, and again assuming both parties are agreeable, Edgar-Aldo makes a lot of promotional, if not necessarily competitive sense.
And this would give Gilbert Melendez time to migrate over into the UFC and face maybe Anthony Pettis or the Bendo-Guida winner or even [less likely] Gray Maynard, with the winner getting the winner of Edgar-Aldo…