Sunday, December 2, 2011 2:35am
MMA NEWS
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Frankie Edgar retained his lightweight championship at UFC 125, fighting to a controversial draw with Gray Maynard on Saturday night at MGM Grand. "Ending a fight in a draw is bittersweet," Edgar said. "You don't win but you don't lose." Maynard sent Edgar to the canvas early in the fight with a heavy left and had the champion in trouble throughout the first round, but Edgar overcame the damage and fought back in the next three rounds. "I got hit with a big shot, but I rebounded and bounced back," Edgar said. One judge scored it 48-46 for Maynard, another had it 48-46 for Edgar and the third called it even. All three judges scored the first round 10-8 for Maynard. "I thought it could have been stopped in the first," said Maynard, also strong in the final round. "I dropped him like five times. He was all over the place." Edgar defeated B.J. Penn for the belt in April and retained the title in an immediate rematch. Edgar was asked it he would fight Maynard again. "Yeah, I probably would," Edgar said. "He has a win over me and now we have a draw, but I'll do whatever the UFC wants me to do." In the co-main event, Brian Stann stopped Chris Leben at 3:37 of the first round. On the undercard, Thiago Silva unanimously outpointed Brandon Vera, Dong Hyun Kim remained unbeaten with a unanimous decision over Nate Diaz, and Clay Guida earned his third straight win, submitting former Pride lightweight champion Takanori Gomiby with a guillotine choke in the third round.
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