Earlier in the week I got a chance to chat with UFC lightweight Gray Maynard, about his upcoming fight against TJ Grant at UFC 160 in Las Vegas. Gray feels confident coming into this fight against the Canadian Grant after having a fantastic training camp leading up this weekend; “I was in the bay area training at AKA and its the best (camp) I’ve ever had.” During this camp, Maynard sparred with bigger opponents to prepare for Grant but asked if size will be a factor in their fight; “You know what, I don’t think so because I’m a big guy too. I have gone up against bigger guys that have dropped down before so I don’t think its a big issue.”
With a lot of lightweights moving down in favor of 145, I asked Maynard if he himself has considered a move down to featherweight; “Probably not. Its pretty tough to make the weight that I’m at now. Cut any more (weight) below that, it be difficult.” Even though this fight was announced as a #1 contenders bout, Maynard doesn’t feel any added pressure to perform; “No, not really. It was a kick in the butt and it was nice. It was about half-way through camp, so it was a little bit of energy put into it after they announced it.”
To win this fight, Maynard looks to control Grant to get another shot at the lightweight title; “Just control him. Whether its up or down, just control him in all areas. He tries to come at you pretty hard in the beginning, but then there’s a couple of times he died off a little bit. Pretty much keep on him and control every area of the fight.” After a 11 month lay-off from his last fight, Maynard is ready to get back in the cage on Saturday night.
For the full interview; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgYRjcnqyMY
(Photo by Drew Hallowell/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)