Sherdog’s Top 10: UFC Lightweight Title Fights

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1. Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard
UFC 125
Jan. 1, 2011 | Las Vegas
For five minutes, Maynard looked like the best 155-pound fighter in the world, but he could not extinguish the considerable fire housed within “The Answer.” Edgar retained his lightweight title in a hotly contested draw with Maynard in the UFC 125 “Resolution” headliner at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, weathering a first round in which he was brutalized by nearly 100 power punches from the challenger. Two judges scored it 48-46, Glenn Trowbridge for Maynard and Marcos Rosales for Edgar; Patricia Morse Jarman saw it a 47-47 deadlock. That Edgar reached Round 2 was a monumental feat in itself. Clocked by a ringing left hook a little more than a minute into the match, he was on his heels for the remainder of the first round. Maynard appeared close to finishing it on a number of occasions, as he waylaid the champion with a relentless volley of punches, highlighted by a pair of wicked right uppercuts. Miraculously, Edgar stayed alive, even as he teetered on the brink. Maynard’s pace slowed noticeably in the second round, and Edgar crept back into the fight. His speed, footwork and quick combinations returned, along with a powerful slam that wowed the Sin City crowd. The back-and-forth encounter spilled into a third round, where Maynard answered with power punches and a pair of takedowns of his own. Edgar secured two takedowns in the fourth and threatened his challenger with a standing guillotine choke against the cage. Maynard escaped and pushed the fight into the final round. There, Edgar utilized a variety of strikes -- combinations, jabs and knees to the head and body -- to keep Maynard guessing and the 155-pound belt around his waist. They traded blows at the end of it, providing a fitting finish to a memorable rematch.

Sherdog’s Top 10 series is voted upon by a panel of Sherdog.com staff members and contributors: Jordan Breen, Tristen Critchfield, Mike Fridley, Brian Knapp, TJ De Santis, Mike Sloan, Eric Stinton, Jesse Denis, Joshua Ramsey, Joseph Santoliquito, Andreas Hale, Josh Stillman and Anthony Walker.