UFC 136 Preview: Edgar - Maynard III Leads A Packed Card

Frankie Edgar (13-1-1, 8-1-1 UFC) vs. Gray Maynard (10-0-1, 1nc, 8-0-1, 1 nc UFC)
Edgar – Maynard III should be fun. Maynard won the first fight more than three years ago. From start to finish, the duo’s draw on New Year’s Day was one of the more epic title fights in UFC history and remains a Fight of the Year candidate. If Edgar can again neutralize Maynard’s wrestling, we should get another slugfest with Edgar finally becoming undisputed.

José Aldo (19-1, 1-0 UFC) vs. Kenny Florian (14-5, 12-4 UFC)
Aldo is a dangerous man. KenFlo has a chance tonight, but I can’t see him unseating the champ. Aldo hasn’t lost in nearly 6 years and his reign over the featherweight division has been impressive for the most part. Florian should take confidence in the knowledge that Aldo has failed to finish two of his last three opponents (Urijah Faber and Mark Hominick).

Chael Sonnen (25-11-1, 4-4 UFC) vs. Brian Stann (11-3, 5-2 UFC)
The return of the most interesting bullshitter in the world. Brian Stann has finished three straight fights and he’s going to have to finish Sonnen if the former Marine wants to fight for the middleweight championship. For Sonnen, the game plan will be to drag Stann down and grind out a victory.

Melvin Guillard (29-8-2, 1nc, 11-4 UFC) vs. Joe Lauzon (20-6, 7-3 UFC)
This fight is going to be awesome. Guillard has won five straight and knocked out three of his last four opponents. Lauzon has only seen one decision in his career. If Guillard wins this – and wins in impressive fashion – it’s going to be difficult to deny The Young Assassin a title fight.

Leonard Garcia (15-7-1, 2-3 UFC) vs. Nam Phan (16-9, 0-2 UFC)
Their first fight was decent enough that it won Fight of the Night. Phan kind of got screwed by Hypno-Garcia.

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SpikeTV 8pm Eastern
Demian Maia (14-3, 8-3 UFC) vs. Jorge Santiago (29-4, 1-3 UFC)
Both guys are looking to rebound.

Anthony Pettis (13-2, 0-1 UFC) vs. Jeremy Stephens (20-6, 7-5 UFC)
You had me at “free Anthony Pettis.”

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Facebook.com/UFC @ 5:45 Eastern
Joey Beltran vs. Stipe Miocic
Darren Elkins vs. Tiequan Zhang
Eric Schafer vs. Aaron Simpson
Steve Cantwell vs. Mike Massenzio
(FightMetric)