Disability not stopping ex-UGA student from achieving dreams

Kyle Maynard's toughest fight wasn't against Bryan Fry in Alabama last year, his first bout in a mixed martial arts ring.

The hardest fight was just getting there, fighting through the hate, the doubt, the detractors. Maynard's story, which will be broadcast at 7 p.m. Monday on ESPN 2, isn't about his disability.

Really, it's about the exact opposite.

"What I've learned is that not having arms and legs is a big disability," said the 24-year-old former University of Georgia student and wrestler. "But an even bigger disability is being devout to something your entire life, but never trying."

Maynard, who was born with congenital amputation and has no arms or legs, lives to try new things. He started wrestling when he was 11 and became a champion, earned scholarships from Division 1 colleges, and won an ESPY award for being the best athlete with a disability.

He climbs mountains - literally - and lifts weights.

He owns a gym in Suwanee and travels the world to give motivational speeches. He even works with Wounded Warriors to adapt fitness equipment to soldiers injured in combat.

Maynard wrote a book, "No Excuses," while he was at UGA and became a talk show darling. He's appeared on "Oprah" and "Larry King Live."

Everything Maynard heard always was positive. And then he announced his intentions to fight in an MMA octagon, a type of fight where two men battle with each other until one can't go on.

Suddenly, Maynard was the subject of cruel jokes and even death wishes.

"People said things like I'd be the first televised death in the sport, that the other fighter would pick me and throw me out of the r