UFC 118 Results: Gray Maynard Bullies Kenny Florian, Earns Title Shot

Call it "a dominant wrestling showcase," call it "lay and pray," call it "groundwork," call it anything you want.

At the end of the day, you'd have to call it a win that Gray Maynard earned against Kenny Florian.

Brookline's finest lightweight came into the fight as the more technical striker, but Maynard knew that coming in and was determined to keep the fight off the feet for as long as he could.

He scored a series of takedowns throughout the fight that kept Kenny right where Gray wanted him, throwing a few shots in just to keep Florian at bay, although nothing that would rock Florian.

In all three rounds, at least one instance of Maynard securing a takedown highlighted an issue that Tristar Gym's head trainer extraordinaire Firas Zahabi had told Kenny in training:

Kenny could ill afford to let himself be against the cage in the fight, because doing so could have caused him to be in a situation where Maynard could secure a full mount and ground-and-pound his face in.

Much to the chagrin and annoyance of the partisan crowd at the TD Garden, the fight was never steered in that direction by Maynard, although "The Bully" did a fine job of keeping Florian from inflicting any damage on the feet or on the ground.

The fight was a lopsided showcase of Maynard's wrestling ability against an opponent who was given an opportunity to prove in front of his hometown that the third time is the charm.

Looks like Florian was just gotten the better of against a more determined opponent.

With the win over Florian and with the ending of the much-anticipated Frankie Edgar-BJ Penn fight turning out the way it did, the stage is now set, so to speak.

We don't know when it's going to go down, nor do we know where.

We don't know who's going to be next in line, and we certainly can't say for certain whether or not tonight was the last time BJ Penn will contend for the UFC Lightweight title.

All we know for sure is that Gray Maynard is the new No. 1 contender to the belt.

Now the only thing standing between him and the belt is Frankie Edgar.

I'd be careful, though...this won't be the same Frankie who lost the first time.