Gray Maynard Picks Frankie Edgar over Ben Henderson at UFC 144

UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar will defend his title at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan early next year, and his previous opponent, Gray Maynard, is hoping Ben Henderson doesn't make it past the man who he is 1-1-1 against.

“Hopefully he holds on to the belt, because there’s got to be a part four, I think, to make it a true trilogy," Maynard told TATAME. "Now he has one and I do too, so that’s a draw. So, we gotta do it again. Hopefully, he holds on the belt and I can work back up there."

Maynard and Edgar fought to a hard-fought draw in January, and a third bout between the two took place at UFC 136, where Edgar won by a fourth-round knockout. After another first round that saw Maynard punishing his opponent with power shots, Edgar survived to come back and finish off his undefeated opponent in one of the year's best fights.

“Obviously it was not the outcome that I was hoping for," Maynard continued. "It happened, I had to deal. I gotta improve on some things and gotta be prepared for the next opponent."

No future opponents have been announced for Maynard's next bout, but he hopes it's against a top contender that can get him back into title contention.

Henderson will enter the bout with Edgar as the former WEC lightweight champion. He is riding a three-fight win streak with wins over Clay Guida, Jim Miller and Mark Bocek.

“Well, that’s a lot of stuff up in the air," Maynard said. "I know (Melvin) Guillard got up against Jim Miller. I know (Donald) Cerrone is going to go up against Nate Diaz, so there’s a lot of interesting stuff that you kinda have to wait to see what happens. I gotta have a place to train, I gotta be prepared."