Maynard hopes home cooking gets UFC career on track
Lightweight Gray Maynard has spent a great deal of time searching for answers to the slump that has plagued him since he suffered his first career loss in a title fight against Frankie Edgar in October 2011.
Maynard hopes the solution is as simple as just coming home.
The 35-year-old is back living in Las Vegas and ready to begin his ascent in the lightweight division when he faces Alexander Yakovlev on the preliminary card of today’s Ultimate Fighting Championship card in Fairfax, Va. The event is a rare matinee for the organization, with the preliminary card airing at 8 a.m. and the main card live at 10 a.m., both on Fox Sports 1 (Cable 329).
After the loss to Edgar, Maynard decided he had plateaued working at Xtreme Couture, so he hit the road to train at the acclaimed American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif.
Maynard won his first fight there but lost his next two. He was trying to settle into a new life, living an hour from the gym near the beach with his fiancee and their daughter.
He spent some time in Brazil training with featherweight champ Jose Aldo and then moved his training camp to Power MMA in Phoenix for his last fight, a loss to Ross Pearson in August.
That was the third straight time Maynard had lost, all by knockout.
Maynard, who is 1-4 in his past five fights after starting his career 10-0-1, said he thought it was time to return to his roots.
“I wanted to come back home,” Maynard said. “My parents are here, my cousins, all the people I grew up with. We were Cali dreaming for a bit, tried it out, bought a house and remodeled it. Did a lot of stuff I probably shouldn’t be doing when I’m training for top 10 opponents. But we learned from it. It was just constantly restarting.”
Maynard got plenty of good training during his time away from Las Vegas, but in retrospect he believes it wasn’t the right time to be experimenting with his routine, inside or outside the cage.
“Maybe I could have gotten away with it against guys not in the top 10, but at that level, you don’t see guys doing too much changing,” he said. “They know what works, they’re in a routine, it’s pretty much just replicating camp after camp. Anytime you change camps, it’s hard. It’s a lot of unknown. In this sport, you have to know who you’re training with and who your coaches are. That’s what the amateurs are about. When you’re in the top 10, you should have that all set.”
The other thing that happened while Maynard was gone, which was certainly a factor in his return to Las Vegas, was Robert Follis taking over as head coach at Xtreme Couture and bringing a more structured training environment to the gym.
With his training regimen and family settled back in place, Maynard was able to turn his sights back on accomplishing his goals in the cage, the biggest still being to win a UFC belt.
The losses have made that a difficult challenge but one Maynard is ready to accept. They also have led to a vocal contingent in the sport calling for Maynard to stop fighting.
He understands why after suffering four knockouts, including three in a row.
“I had the talk with (UFC president Dana White), I had the talk with my parents, with my girl, with everybody,” Maynard said. “Because everybody cares.”
The discussion with White was particularly significant because Maynard’s contract expired after his last fight. He said White ordered him to undergo a complete exam from head to toe, including his brain, before offering him a new contract.
He agreed to an eight-fight deal in September.
Maynard said his decision to continue his career should not be seen as a lack of concern about brain trauma.
“You’re concerned just because you’ve got the NFL guys, you’ve got the boxers,” he said. “You see it. I got into a sport where you’re going to take some head trauma. It’s not a bad thing if you take care of it, if you take the time.
“It’s just crazy (when fighters return too quickly from a knockout). If you hurt a knee, you’re going to take some time off. With your brain, it’s so much more important. There’s a lot that I’ve read about, and you’ve got to just try to stay on top of it.”
With his mind right and camp more settled, Maynard hopes to begin his comeback today against Yakovlev. He knows fighting on the preliminary card is far from a main event bout for a title, but it’s one step on the path back to that level.
“It’s all about just taking care of today,” Maynard said. “You want to win every day, even in practice. It’s just kind of getting going to where I beat this guy up, take a couple days off and then get back in here and get back to work to keep it going. That’s the goal, and the wins will just come with that.
“I’m preparing for a belt. Even if it’s not this fight, it’s just laying that groundwork to get to that point.”
The card is headlined by a featherweight-contender bout between Chad Mendes and Ricardo Lamas. Also, Julianna Pena returns from a severe knee injury to face Milana Dudieva in a women’s bantamweight bout.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.
