Following Benson Henderson’s close split decision win over Gilbert Melendez on Saturday night at UFC On FOX 7, the next natural question would be what is next for Henderson when he defends the UFC Lightweight Championship again. Could it be a potential rematch with Melendez? Could Josh Thomson, who scored an impressive knockout win over Nate Diaz on Saturday, be next in line?
Neither of those will be getting the next shot as UFC President Dana White announced at the UFC On FOX 7 Post-Fight Press Conference that the winner of a UFC 160 bout next month between Gray Maynard (11-1-1 1 NC, 9-1-1 1 NC UFC) and T.J. Grant (20-5, 7-3 UFC) will be granted the next title shot.
Maynard has been in two UFC Lightweight Championship bouts in his career, both against Frankie Edgar. He drew with Edgar at UFC 125 in January 2011. That led to a rematch that was won by Edgar at UFC 136 in October 2011, the only loss of Maynard’s career. Maynard has since scored a split decision win over Clay Guida as he heads to his showdown with Grant.
Grant has been on a roll since making the move down to 155 pounds as he has won four straight fights. Grant has scored wins over Shane Roller, Carlo Prater, Evan Dunham and Matt Wiman during his run towards a title match, and the fight with Maynard will actually be his pay-per-view main card debut, and it comes with a title shot hanging in the wings.
UFC 160 takes place on May 25 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and is headlined by Cain Velasquez defending the UFC Heavyweight Championship against Antonio Silva.
