Former UFC lightweight contender Gray Maynard has decided to take his training elsewhere, leaving Xtreme Couture following his recent loss to UFC 155-pound champ Frankie Edgar.

Maynard is currently working with members of American Kickboxing Academy in California, while also finding new partners and workouts at various gyms. Maynard twice fought Edgar for the UFC title, with the first encounter ending in a draw. The second went to Edgar, as he finished Maynard with a series of strikes.

“Right now, I’m up in Santa Cruz and things are great. They are a few gyms I have been training at. I’ve also spent some time at AKA,” said Maynard, in a recent interview with Heavy.com. “They have a great gym, an awesome team and I’m enjoying my time here. At this point my focus is on broadening my horizons and wherever I feel that can be accomplished is where I will go. There is a huge world out there and so many great camps where I can learn so many things.”

Maynard was one of the first fighters to help Randy Couture open his gym in Las Vegas, building the foundation for the gym alongside Martin Kampmann, Jay Hieron, John Alessio and Mike Pyle.

“The group of guys I started with at Xtreme Couture, those guys are family to me,” Maynard said. “That won’t change just because I’m not doing my training camps there. It isn’t about anything other than it was time to move and me wanting to train anywhere I can.”

As for his future, Maynard isn’t limiting himself to just training in the U.S., saying, “There are so many other camps and so much I can learn, it became something I needed to do. If that means going down to Brazil and training with Jose Aldo, I’d be excited to go. There are a ton of gyms in Holland and to train with Andy Souwer would be something that interests me. There is so much to lean out there and I want to grow.”

By: Dan Beck