Frankie Edgar Reveals Why He’s Fighting Yair Rodriguez Instead Of Ricardo Lamas
Former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar recently exchanged social media messages with top contender Ricardo Lamas about a fight with each other. This was a fight that the fans got behind and supported as it would have created a natural challenger for the winner of the Jose Aldo vs. Max Holloway title unification bout taking place at UFC 212 in June. Despite the love that the fans have for this fight, it will not happen as the UFC announced last week that Edgar would be taking on rising prospect and Yair Rodriguez at UFC 211.
Edgar recently appeared on The Anik and Florian Podcast on Monday where he explained how the bout with Rodriguez came to be instead of the fight with Lams.
“I don’t know. I wanted to fight May 13th. I know [Ricardo] Lamas reached out to me on Twitter a couple of times. I was cool with that fight but the UFC looked like they wanted to go in a different direction. They suggested Yair, and I’m pretty easy so I said, ‘Let’s do it. May 13th sounds pretty good to me.’”
Rodriguez is on top of the world right now after he beat UFC Hall of Famer BJ Penn in January and is viewed as one of the best young prospects in the game. While Lamas is a tough veteran and former title challenger, Edgar stated that the hype behind Rodriguez makes this fight potentially even bigger.
“I don’t know [if it’s a bigger fight]. If it’s any indicator in the buzz I’m getting, I’m definitely getting a lot of buzz. This fight seems like a pretty big fight. People are interested in seeing Yair and testing him against someone like myself. So yeah, the buzz has been great with the media and my social network so maybe it is the bigger fight. To me it doesn’t matter. I’ve still got to show up on May 13th and get the job done.”
“A little bit. I’d be stupid not to see the picture they’re painting here a little bit. Yair’s kind of in a win-win situation I think. He beats me, that’s great for him, it’s good for the UFC to push a prospect. But if he loses, he wasn’t supposed to win, kind of situation. For me, a lot’s on the line.”
UFC 211 takes place May 13th at the American Airlines Center. The night’s main card will air live on pay-per-view while the prelims will air on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass. Stipe Miocic vs. Junior Dos Santos for the heavyweight title will headline this event while Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Jessica Andrade for the strawweight title will serve as the co-main event. You can listen to the podcast here:
