Originally Posted by
Josh Mahoney
I agree that it should've been a far more exciting fight than it was. However, I think there was method to Clay's madness. I figured he'd want to spend the first couple of rounds avoiding the power advantage that Maynard brings to the fight and hope that by rounds 4 and 5 Gray was gassed, leaving openings to capitalise on, there was a lot of talk about Gray's conditioning before the fight. Unfortunately for Clay, Gray's conditioning was tip-top on the night so there was no way for him to effectively capitalise.
Personally I would've called it in favour of Clay, purely based on the number of strikes he connected with as opposed to Gray, the amount of damage he did and the takedowns that he avoided. I suppose the whole "running away" thing could be seen as a lack of aggression which may have counted against him and that guillotine was a massive threat, but he did manage to escape it.
I guess this is why they say don't leave it in the hands of the judges.
He actually landed less strikes, as many websites have said, and he threw many that caught nothing but air.
I think he actually broke the record for worst accuracy in a fight with something like 7%?
He has no aggression, and when he was, he almost got subbed.
I would love to see more refs warn and even take points away from fighters literally turning around and running from their opponent.
Condit had this gameplan, and he actually threw strikes, landed, and flustered Diaz.
Clay just ran, which is of course annoying for his opponent, but it doesn't and shouldn't win a fight.
He could of gotten a decision, but it would of been hair thin.
He fought poorly, and wasn't his exciting action pushing self.
He is a known grinder who works people to death, this was his worst performance ever.
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