Frankie Edgar Eyes UFC 281 Swansong, Welcomes MSG Clash With Dominick Cruz

Former undisputed UFC lightweight champion, Frankie Edgar is targeting his decorated career swansong for UFC 281 on November 12. at Madison Square Garden, welcoming the opportunity to bow out of the sport against fellow former promotional champion, Dominick Cruz. 

Edgar, a former undisputed lightweight champion under the promotion’s banner, featured most recently on the main card of UFC 268 back in November at MSG, suffering a brutal, third round front kick knockout to streaking Ecuadorian finisher, Marlon Vera.

In the time since, Edgar, who currently sits at #11 in the official bantamweight rankings, has been linked with a slew of potential comeback fights later this year, including a bout with polarizing striker, Sean O’Malley.

Embarking on a run of 1-2 from three outings at the bantamweight limit, off the back of a close-fought decision win over Pedro Munhoz, Edgar suffered a brutal, 28-second flying knee knockout loss to Cory Sandhagen before his defeat to Vera.

Weighing up his future in the sport, Toms River veteran, Edgar admitted that UFC 281 on November 12. in the ‘Big Apple’ will likely come as his final professional outing. 

“I think that would be cool,” Frankie Edgar said. “It would be a pretty cool sendoff at Madison Square Garden, it’s pretty much in my backyard. I trained up in Renzo’s (Gracie) for so many years, it would be a pretty cool sendoff.” 

Frankie Edgar welcomes the chance to share the Octagon with Dominick Cruz

As far as opponents are concerned, Edgar mentioned the possibility of a “legacy” fight against former two-time bantamweight best, Cruz.

“I’m never one to call anybody out or pick anybody, I usually let the UFC and Ali (Abdelaziz) kind of figure that out,” Frankie Edgar said. “But, I’ll say a name just because I think it’s more of a legacy fight and I know he has a fight coming up and who knows how it could happen, but I think Dominick Cruz. He was a champion at 135 when I was the champion at 155. We were both pretty much top of the division, I think that could be an interesting fight.” (Transcribed by MMA Fighting)

Mentioning a potential matchup with fellow veteran, Cruz, the Californian is already scheduled to headline an upcoming UFC Fight Night San Diego event on August 13. – tackling soon to be common-foe, Vera.