coryallen2

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

Two years ago, when he almost made his amateur mixed-martial-arts debut, Maynard held a greater concern about all his fight meant and how much it was despised in the MMA community. He had been home in Suwanee, Ga., where his MMA interest began more than two years before as a high school senior.

But too many people didn't want him to fight. They didn't like the idea of an accomplished high school wrestler who was born with no arms or legs below the elbows or knees with an awesomely inspirational personal story participating in an Atlanta amateur event. The Georgia body that sanctions such events didn't like the idea either, so officials denied Maynard a license to fight, and the issue went dormant.

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 (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) on Tuesday. "That doesn't really surprise me as much.

"It just surprises me how many people fear the sport is so fledgling that if I got hurt, it would end it."

Many in the MMA community have worried this fight is simply a freak show with a money-hungry promoter pulling the strings and talking Maynard into a fight because of a guaranteed big gate.

But Maynard and fight officials say the opposite is true. Maynard initiated the idea, fought for his Georgia license, appealed after its denial and is the public-relations front man for the Auburn show. He's making many of the calls himself, setting up many of the details.

When a reporter calls the Auburn Covered Arena to ask about the buzz surrounding the fight and says his name is Kyle, the receptionist quickly chirps, "Oh, hi Kyle!" But it's not Kyle Maynard, and she apologizes. She explains that it's pleasant to get a call from Maynard because of his passion for the event and his attention to the minor details.

So he calls, what, once a week?

"He calls all the time," she says.

Still, many hold concerns that Maynard will not be safe in an MMA cage. Even though the rules won't allow him to be kicked or kneed in the face, many wonder how he can protect himself from blows, and how could he expect to win a fight except for decision?

"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.

Path to MMA

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.

By 2004, he competed in the Georgia High School Sports Association wrestling championships and finished his high school career with a varsity record of 35-16.

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.

Soon, he would approach those figures with an idea that, admittedly, made them uncomfortable at first.

A years-long passion

Maynard's MMA interest began in earnest with a 2004 phone call from Randy Couture. The MMA legend heard Maynard's impressive story and invited him to Las Vegas and into his dressing room during a UFC event.

The next spring, still stirring from the experience, Maynard was at the Arnold Sports Festival and noticed amateur registration for an on-site MMA event. He was spotted by noted MMA and weightlifting trainer Steve Maxwell, who pulled Maynard aside and showed him some remedial techniques.

Maynard lost the fight, but he quickly fired up his computer when he returned home.

"I was awestruck," Maynard said. "I was just floored."

Maynard quickly found an MMA gym in Athens, Ga., where UFC veteran and would-be light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin trained. Again using the moxie that served him in overcoming other obstacles, Maynard made contact with Griffin through a mutual friend and set up a lunch.

There, Maynard grilled Griffin on MMA.

"I was just getting more and more sucked in," Maynard said.

In the three years since that lunch, Maynard was been training for and learning about MMA. He earned a blue belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu from Paul Creighton, who runs a school in Duluth, Ga.

Soon, Maynard felt he was ready to be tested in the cage.

Struggling to fight