Thanks to everyone who registered for the give away of the UFN 20 posters.  I wanted to give something back to my fans to express my gratitude for all of your support.  I am going to try and do some more give always in the future so keep checking back!  Again, thanks to all of you for your support.

Winners of Gray Maynard Autographed UFN 20 Posters are as follows:

SiFi 420, Wponce87, Mike UFC Fan, Travida, Dandmx13, Michaut6, Dodjer69, DkMurphy, Superjamie87, Seanaes, Dwinter77, Petteway23, Gray4ever, Bully Princess, Mike Arnold

Congrats to all of the winners and we will email you.

I am heading to Sydney, Australia for UFC 110. The Ultimate Fighting Championship takes Australia by storm for the first time and fans at Sydney’s Acer Arena will be treated to explosive matchups featuring two early Fight of The Year candidates. In the main event, a world heavyweight title shot is on the line when unbeaten Cain Velasquez takes on former UFC and PRIDE champion Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira.  Plus, UK superstar Michael “The Count” Bisping hopes to spoil the middleweight debut of the legendary ‘Axe Murderer’, Wanderlei Silva.  I am pumped for this card and will keep you posted as the week goes.  Follow me on twitter for the latest updates from Sydney.

UFC 110: Nogueira vs. Velasquez, Saturday, February 20, live on pay-per-view from the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia.

Fight airs live on PPV at 10 PM/ET 7 PM PT

MAIN CARD

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez

Michael Bisping vs. Wanderlei Silva

George Sotiropoulos vs. Joe Stevenson

Ryan Bader vs. Keith Jardine

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Ben Rothwell

PRELIMINARY CARD

Chris Haseman vs. Elvis Sinosic

Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski

Brian Foster vs. Chris Lytle

C.B. Dollaway vs. Goran Reljic

Igor Pokrajac vs. James Te Huna

Q: Gray, congrats on the win at UFC Fight Night 20. You had a hard fought win over Nate Diaz. Looking back, were you happy with your performance? And what (if anything) would you have done differently?

Yeah, I’m always happy with a win against a tough opponent. Hind sight is always 20/20, so there’s always some things I would change.  But fighting Nate or his brother Nick is never an easy task. They are tall, long, lefty’s, with good ju jitsu. It’s never going to be pretty win.

Q: The Diaz brothers seem to revel in the trash talking to get their opponents to fight THEIR fight. You did a good job of not falling into Nates strength (jiu jitsu), and keeping the fight on its feet. Is it hard to stay focused on a fight plan?

Not really. It’s just hard to fight them because of their style and build. Like I said, it’s never going to be a pretty win.

Q: You were selected to Penn’s team during TUF 5. He picked you for the finals, and even asked you to be a sparring partner. Is it hard to step in with a guy that you’ve trained with & befriended?

BJ’s a good friend. But, I can’t pass up an opportunity to fight for a belt. We’ve all been on this journey to the top for a long time. You meet people on the way and become friends, but you can’t let that get in the way of accomplishing your ultimate goal of becoming a UFC world champion.

Q: You’ve been training at Extreme Couture for awhile now. What’s the best tip/bit of advice that Randy Couture has given you?

Concentrate on the preparation, not the outcome.

Q: There has been a long running debate as to which discipline has been the most effective in mma. Many say wrestling, other say jiu jitsu. But it appears that wrestlers seem to be able to incorporate the striking aspect alot easier than many jiu jitsu practitioners. From a wrestling background, what skills do you think have best prepared you for your success in mixed martial arts?

Work ethic!! Wrestling builds an unbelievable work ethic. That’s the key to being successful in anything you do, and wrestling teaches that. It’s no secret, it’s just hard work. We can apply that to other sport and excel very quickly in them.

Q: Who do you think is the best P4P fighter in mma today?

Anderson Silva. The way he has gone through top ranked opponents is unbelievable.

Q: You’ve won your last 6 fights by decision, with the last 2 coming by split decision. As a fighter, are you concerned with leaving the decision up to the judges?

No, I knew I won all those fights before the decisions came out. Of course I would like to finish all those fights, but that’s not realistic. Almost all the guys I fought have never been finished in their whole career. So we knew I had to go in there with a good game plan for all of them and be prepared for 3 hard rounds.

For the full interview go to www.armchairfighters.com

First of all, thank you for all of the questions you sent in.  Here are some of the ones I received.   If you have something to ask email the question in.  As always, I enjoy hearing from you.  I want to write about what you want to hear about.  Thanks for all of your continued support.

Who is training at xtreme couture?

Right now Randy Couture, Martin Kampmann, Goran Reljic are the guys that have upcoming fights in the UFC. But everyone usually takes off a week after his fight then gets back in the gym. Tyson Griffen, Mike Pyle, Forrest Griffen, Jay Hieron, John Alessio and numerous other guys train there everyday.

Any plans in the works for you getting the winner of the Frankie Edgar Vs. BJ Penn!?

Haven’t heard anything yet, but keep checking my website. I’ll let everyone know.

Bike riding’s fun, but quick question for you about keeping in shape, have you heard of Bas Routen’s new punching bag system: http://www.bodyactionsystem.ca/ What do you think!?

Yeah, Bas is a great coach and an unbelievable striker. I’ve never personally used it, but it looks interesting. I would like to try it out someday. Let me know how it is if you get one.

Congrats on the FN:20 win. Do you feel that you are better equiped to deal with Bj Penn as opposed to your past opponent Frankie Edgar? Do you feel as though it may be a good thing or are you ready for Bj now? You’ve definitley stepped up your boxing , your performance against Jim Miller was incredible.

I can’t tell you who’s better equipped to fight BJ until we both actually fight him. That’s the only way to find out anything in the fight game. I’m ready for whoever they put in front of me. I can’t focus on someone I’m not scheduled to fight, because than I wouldn’t be taking care of what I need to do for my next opponent. Thanks for following my career, I’m working hard to get better in all areas everyday.

First of all, thank you for all of the questions you sent in.  Here are some of the ones I received.  I will post more later in the week.  If you have something to ask email the question in.  As always, I enjoy hearing from you.  I want to write about what you want to hear about.  Thanks for all of your continued support.

1. Who are you looking to fight next?

Don’t know yet. I think they (UFC) are waiting to see what happens with a couple other fights.

2. Who will win, Michael Bisping or Wanderlei Silva?

That should be a great fight. I know Wanderlei is hungry to get back on the winning track. He’s a legend and been through some wars, so he’s always tough to beat. Bisping is out to prove he can still be a contender. So there’s a lot riding on the fight, which always makes it interesting. I’m not really big on predicting fights when I don’t know how their training camp is going and what their mindset is for the fight. But, I’m definitely anxious to watch it!!

3. What are your training and conditioning routines?

Right now I’m not in training camp. My lifting is geared more towards gaining strength, rather than metabolic lifting in training camp. I lift three times a week with heavier weight and fewer reps, also incorporating some speed drills.

Now is the time I really concentrate on technique and learning. I can slow down my practices and focus on certain areas I need to work rather than hard sparring and working on a certain game plan and movements for an upcoming opponent. This is a great time to cross train like mountain biking, road biking, and swimming. Breaks up the routine, but I’ll still get a great workout.

4.  I’m a BJJ practitioner and I’d like to get some muscle and strength to get to the next weight class….do you have any suggestions on the weight training? Actually I’m focused on Bench and deadlifts.

There’s a lot of information out about strength training. I really don’t know too much about how to increase your weight through strength training, because I’ve never been able to do that. I already have to lose a lot of weight to make 155lbs. So my strength and conditioning coach (PSI where I train)  incorporates exercises that don’t add weight, but add strength. Also nutrition is a big part of gaining or losing weight. Increase your calorie intake with good food to help build the muscles you need. Don’t limit yourself to just Bench and Deadlift. We incorporate Squats, Cleans, Trap Bar Deadlift, Incline Press, Overhead Squats, Bentover Rows, and many more. I know one common lifting routine that works good is a heavy weight/low rep upper body day, heavy weight/low rep lower body day, than do a full body day with medium weight and reps.

I am going to give away 15 Gray Maynard autographed UFN 20 Fight posters.   To enter the drawing for the posters register as a user at the bottom of any post, look for the “Log In” link.  The deadline to register for the poster drawing will be Monday Feb. 15, 2010.  The winning names will be posted on Tuesday Feb. 16, on the website and we will contact you through email. No purchase necessary, Quantities limited, void where prohibited.  I look forward to hearing from all of you and thanks for your support!

Jay Hieron Defeats Joe Riggs tonight at Strikeforce Miami.  Jay won by unanimous decision Official scores are 29-28 and 30-27 (twice)  Congrats Jay you deserve the win!

I recently had the chance to do an interview with Terry from The MMA News. I have provided a portion of the interview for you.  For the full interview go to http://www.themmanews.com/?p=9634

THE MMA NEWS: You are currently the only fighter to beat Frankie Edgar who has been announced to fight BJ Penn for the lightweight title.  Is this a title shot you feel you deserved at this point, or are you ok with patiently waiting to be next in line?

GRAY: Frankie has beat some tough opponents. I think it’s more of a timing issue than anything.  The UFC plans fights months ahead of time, especially a title fight.  That’s why they are able to put on the best fights in the world, because they give everyone proper time to train and prepare.  They knew Frankie and BJ would be ready to go on the date they had planned.  That’s what they decided, this is a business and I’m an employee.  I don’t take anything personal and they know what’s best for the company and the fighters.  I’m confident that I will get my shot at the belt.  I just need to stay focused and keep growing as a fighter.

THE MMA NEWS: You were originally brought in by BJ Penn as a training partner, how was this experience at the time, and have you trained with BJ since?

GRAY: I had a great experience training with BJ in Hilo.  It was definitely an eye opener early in my career to the sport.  He knows so much about MMA and has a great training environment down there.  I didn’t have a chance to train with him again until the TV show.  That was a little different because there are some restraints on how and when you can train, so I wasn’t able to get as much out of it as I did when I went to Hilo.  But it gave me an opportunity to fight for the UFC.

THE MMA NEWS: BJ Penn has looked unstoppable in his recent bouts at lightweight. How do you feel the fight between him and Frankie Edgar will go down, and do you feel the only way to beat BJ at this point is to learn from George St Pierre and out wrestle him?

GRAY: First of all nobody is unstoppable.  This is the fight game and on any given day anybody can be beat.  I grew up wrestling since I was 3 and I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard that a guy can’t be beat and then he gets beat.  A couple wrestlers that come to mind is Dan Gable and Alexander Karelin.  It’s just the way combat sports go, that’s why it makes them so interesting.  But, BJ has looked great his last couple fights.  I don’t like to predict fights, I know they both will be prepared and come in with a good game plan.  I haven’t really sat down and got a game plan for BJ yet, because I haven’t had to fight him.  GSP did give a blueprint on how to fight BJ, but that doesn’t mean it will work for everyone.  I’m excited to watch their fight though.

THE MMA NEWS: How has the experience of training with UFC legend Randy Couture and his Extreme Couture gym been?

GRAY: Randy has be a great leader for all of us.  His knowledge and work ethic is second to none and he’s always trying to improve.  It’s a great place to train and I’m fortunate to be apart of the family.  We’ve been together for a while and it’s made me the fighter I am today.

For the full article go to http://www.themmanews.com/?p=9634 As always if you have any questions you would like answered email me through the website.  Thanks for all of your support!