Frankie Edgar Looking To Stay Active, Will Fight Anyone
Former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar may not have made the smoothest transition to the featherweight division, but he eventually managed to get a good streak going in his new weight class. Four straight wins over top competition in the form of Urijah Faber, Cub Swanson, Charles Oliveira and BJ Penn erased the memories of his three straight losses, the last of which was his debut title fight with Jose Aldo.
The spree at featherweight hasn’t come without complications though, as ‘The Answer’ has repeatedly been snubbed in his quest for another title shot. It even led Edgar to claiming he would only fight for a title, but with Jose Aldo vs Conor McGregor not happening until late 2015, it looks like the former 155-pound champ is having second thoughts.
Edgar tells MMAJunkie’s Christian Stein that 145 pounds has worked out well for him so far, and that he has decided to fight again rather than wait for the winner of the unification match:
“I’m looking to fight before the year is out, I’m looking to do my thing and stay active. Whoever my manager and the UFC come up with, I’m down,”
“I was the champion, and I lost a pretty controversial fight against Benson Henderson; I could have still been the champion if I won that fight,” Edgar said. “That’s when I made the decision. I was still successful at 155. I just thought for me, losing two in a row, I thought it was a good time to go down.”
When talking about viable fights for Edgar at featherweight, there really aren’t many options aside from Chad Mendes. Anyone further up the division is simply too much of a risk, or it would just be a squash match. A fight with ‘Money’ could indeed be a fun one for the fans, as it would pit two great wrestlers with slick footwork and great boxing against each other. Edgar continues on the subject of dropping a weight class to revive his winning ways:
“If a guy can make it and they can weigh in and show up and perform, then it’s not too much; if it becomes where they can’t make it, then it becomes too much,” Edgar said of cutting weight. “You never know how your body is going to react until after the weigh-in and fight. Some guys can bounce back pretty good. Some guys can’t.
“It almost just the person. It’s case-by-case. Each individual will want to stay where he is or go down because of certain reasons they think will benefit them. Some guys think if you’re the bigger, stronger guy, you’re going to win. Some guys would rather just be a bit healthier.”
Edgar’s size was both an advantage and disadvantage at lightweight; he was both very quick on his feet, but also was often the smaller guy. Now in the featherweight landscape, ‘The Answer’ looks to have found his feet and looks healthy too.
With a title shot still just out of reach, who would you like to see Frankie Edgar tie it up with?
