It has been a tough road lately for Gray Maynard. Once a title contender in the UFC lightweight division, the 36-year-old has lost four straight contests.
Presumably in hopes of squeezing one final burst of success out of his pro MMA career, Maynard (11-5-1) is moving down to the 145-pound featherweight division. The announcement came through Maynard's Twitter over the weekend and was subsequently reported Monday morning by Danny Segura of MMA Fighting.
Yes sir. It'll be at 145 tho https://t.co/JNZpHgu6Ue
— Gray Maynard (@GrayMaynard) November 20, 2015
This is far from the first time a fighter has changed weight classes with the goal of rejuvenation. There are scores of examples of fighters young and old moving up and down in search of a win or just a general jump start. When you've lost four straight, big action becomes necessary, and anything—even your own body—can start to look like ballast.
But despite the rich precedent for such a move, Maynard is taking a very real risk in dropping down a weight class.
Maynard was a very successful college wrestler at Michigan State, and as such he is no stranger to the process of cutting weight.
But in this case, there's a flip side to that coin: Maynard wrestled at 157 pounds in college. The UFC lightweight division limit is 155 pounds. As such, Maynard has not competed at a weight class below 155 pounds since college and perhaps has never done so.
Is the age of 36 the best time to try out a new weight class? Probably not, especially when basic biology tells us that people tend to gain weight as they age.
In combat sports, weight cutting is a double-edged sword. Properly done, it can indeed give competitors a size advantage on fight night. But done improperly—or if the cut itself is simply too steep—it can sap a fighter's strength and stamina.
This fact, coupled with the inexorable human trend lines Maynard is facing, make this a dicey proposition for the veteran. Maynard undoubtedly knows all of this, by the way, meaning that his risk is, to some extent, a calculated one. But how much does the promise of a final flourish of wealth or glory cloud a person's logic?
These are all open questions, and it's entirely possible Maynard answers them with flying colors in his featherweight debut. But if he does, it will be in the face of some unfriendly odds. Hopefully, for his sake, the dice don't come up snake eyes.
Scott Harris writes about MMA for Bleacher Report. For more stuff like this, follow Scott on Twitter.
