Frankie Edgar tried his luck at becoming a featherweight and lightweight world champion, but things didn’t quite work out.
‘The Answer’, who is notorious for fighting at a size disadvantage, captured the lightweight belt after beating UFC Hall of Famer B.J. Penn in 2010. Edgar defended the title against Gray Maynard but dropped down to the featherweight division after losing two consecutive fights to Benson Henderson at UFC 150 and UFC 156.
The New-Jersey-born fighter had hopes of becoming a two-division champ, taking on former 145-pound kingpin Jose Aldo for the belt in 2013. Edgar lost a unanimous decision but remained as resilient as ever and worked his way back up to a title shot.
After winning five straight against some of the division’s top contenders, Edgar took on Jose Aldo again for the interim FW championship at UFC 200. Similar to the first fight, however, the 34-year-old lost a unanimous decision and came up short of attaining another world title.
Determined to make MMA history and join the ranks of Randy Couture and B.J. Penn, Edgar is now considering a drop to the bantamweight division for another crack at the belt.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani in a recent feature interview, Edgar said he will only move to 135-pounds if he’s granted an immediate title shot.
“I do think about [a drop to bantamweight] now,” Edgar told Helwani. “But I kind of want to go down for the title… only for the title, Edgar said, per BJPenn.com. “I don’t think I’d want to cut to ’35 just to fight anybody. I’ll cut to ’35 for the title and take it from there.”
Edgar, who currently weighs around 162 pounds, says the cut would be tough but not out of the realm of possibility. The MMA veteran says he used to fight at 135 lbs. during his senior wrestling years.
“Right now I’m about 162 [pounds],” Edgar said. “It’ll be harder [to make bantamweight]. It’d be tough. I wrestled at 135 in my senior year of high school. I’d obviously be much better at it now, I’d be more knowledgeable about how to get down, and I’d use my nutritionist and everything. I’d do it the right way. I could make the weight, it’d just suck a little bit, and I can beat guys [at featherweight] without it sucking. But if I can go down for the title, that’s cool.”
Dominick Cruz is the current bantamweight champion and has defended the WEC and UFC belts five times. ‘The Dominator’ most recently beat Team Alpha Male rival Urijah Faber at UFC 199 and is expected to face Cody Garbrandt in his next bout.
Due to the heated rivalry between Cruz and Garbrandt, it’s likely that Edgar will be waiting on the sidelines to see the championship bout play out over the next few months.
About the author
