EDGE

Congenital amputee Kyle Maynard's long road Saturday's MMA debut.

Georgia native and congenital amputee Kyle Maynard is a former champion wrestler who is looking to break into mixed martial arts. Until recently. With another push made mostly on his own behalf, Maynard is scheduled to make his delayed amateur MMA debut on Saturday at Auburn Fight Night at the Auburn Covered Arena in Auburn, Ala. The fight's announcement caused major ripples in the international MMA consciousness and reopened the debate about Maynard's place in MMA.

Maynard has tried to avoid that debate this time, changing his Internet home page away from the number of MMA websites he reads daily and moving his training camp to Auburn instead of Georgia. Still, he's surprised his fight has caused such uproar, and this time he's not reading about it. "With the Internet being an open, anonymous forum, people feel like they can say anything, things they probably wouldn't say to my face," Maynard told MMAjunkie.com on Tuesday. "It just surprises me how many people fear the sport is so fledgling that if I got hurt, it would end it."

"Would I allow a fighter with limited arms and legs in the state of Ohio?" said Bernie Profato, executive director of the Ohio Athletic Commission. "Put simply, no." But the fight is on, ending a nearly two-year-long saga that made national news for a license denial in Georgia and perhaps even bigger news for the fight's move to Alabama, where there is no licensing body for MMA.

Promoters are not making the opponent's name public because they feel Maynard and fight officials are facing enough heat that they don't need to add another name to the list. Maynard supporters feel he has a strong chance to win because he has the strength of a much larger person but will be fighting 135-pounders. Whatever happens, the weekend's event will gather plenty of MMA attention, and supporters say that detractors will be surprised with how competitive the fight will be.

"I was extremely concerned about Kyle fighting mixed martial arts until I got to know him better and saw all the things he can do," said David Oblas, president of Undisputed Productions and the fight's promoter. "Once you get into Kyle Maynard the athlete, you see he's quicker and stronger than most people, his arms extend long enough to protect his head, and his power to punch is tremendous. "As the sport of MMA grows larger, we're getting more amateur fighters who don't have a damn clue. They train in their dad's garage, and because they watch 'The Ultimate Fighter,' they think they can fight. Kyle studies this; he knows what he's doing. I feel safer putting Kyle Maynard in the ring with no arms and no legs than almost all of the 0-0 fighters out there."

And this time, Maynard says he isn't fighting to show people he can. He says he's doing it to show himself that he can.

Maynard was born March 24, 1986, with a condition called congenital amputation, which left no elbows or knees or limbs below them. His story, famously chronicled on numerous television talk shows and in his 2005 book "No Excuses," includes a desire at a young age to begin wrestling. After finding a coach to give him that chance, Maynard lost all of his matches during his first two seasons of competition.

His story then jumped into the national consciousness as Maynard made appearances on shows including the "Oprah Winfrey Show," "Good Morning America" and "Larry King Live." He won the 2004 ESPY award for Best Athlete with a Disability. But Maynard wasn't only a wrestler. His passion extended to building his body, where he met similar success. In 2005, at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio, Maynard set a world record for modified bench press with a lift of 360 pounds. Since, Maynard has become a motivational speaker, author and student. He also continued his wrestling skills in submission grappling tournaments in the Atlanta area, from which he met several figures in the Georgia MMA community.

The biggest question: So how, exactly, does Maynard fight? Maynard laughs at the question, but he understands it. For those who haven't seen him grappling or rolling in training, it might seem strange to think about him performing jiu jitsu moves or striking an opponent. He can do both, he says. Although submission grappling was his foundation block for training, he has built more experience. Because his opponents can't strike him from leg distance, he waits for them to move closer, blocks as much as he can with his arms and works to get that opponent to the ground for blows or grappling. "My arms go from shoulder to elbow; it's not like I have no arms at all," Maynard said. "Five weeks ago I did a 420-pound butterfly press, so I have the power in my arms to deliver strikes. If I had to guess, I'm probably stronger than a lot of 135-pounders." Which is his advantage. While he can't do all the moves, supporters say, Maynard has the unbalanced strength to at times submit and yes even pound. "With the situation with his limbs, it certainly limits your submission attempts, which is difficult," said Nick Lembo, a legal counsel to and acting head of the New Jersey Athletic Control Board who also heads the Association of Boxing Commissions' MMA committee. "It's part of the sport, and you're changing the sport. Then also there was a concern with chokeholds, with being able to recognize that he was tapping out. With just days remaining before his first exam on the topic, Maynard is like most debuting fighters. He has butterflies, and he wants to prove to himself that he can win.


Armbar? Leglock? I call reverse nub lock for the win.