Throughout his career in mixed martial arts, Frankie Edgar has been a difficult fighter to categorize.
The undersized fighter with an oversized heart was a common descriptor in his days in the lightweight division as The Answer played the role of perennial underdog even in fights where championship gold was on his side of the equation. And in some ways, that paradigm wasn’t all for naught.
There were few in the MMA community who thought the hard-nosed New Jersey native could shatter the aura of B.J. Penn when they collided in Abu Dhabi. And when he did, it seemed to be more of a not-quite-at-his-best Penn more than it was a stellar Edgar.
Furthermore, when Edgar doubled up his beating of The Prodigy six months later in Boston at UFC 118, the chatter leaned more on a Penn—who was widely regarded as the best 155-pound fighter in the history of the lightweight division—having lost his edge more than it was Edgar coming into his own.
This storyline would continue to surround Edgar for the next three years as he was consistently locked in rematches and trilogy bouts with rivals new and old. In some cases, like his memorable tilts with Gray Maynard, the lion-hearted Edgar would overcome tremendous adversity and cement his legacy as a fighter you absolutely had to put away or he was going to keep coming with everything he had until the final bell.
And while the same tenacity would be displayed in a pair of bouts with Benson Henderson in 2012, both bouts were closely contested affairs that saw the judges’ decision go the other way.
Edgar was undoubtedly disappointed in what transpired in those fights. But if there is one thing to be learned about the former lightweight champion, it’s that he’s constantly moving forward in every regard. Even in light of great accomplishments, Edgar is the modest type where he throws a shrug and a smile, then moves the attention of the moment onto whatever is coming next.
That’s just how game Frankie Edgar is. So much, in fact, that when he decided to drop down to featherweight and the UFC offered him a title shot against Brazilian phenom Jose Aldo, he was all in.
As it would go, the fight was another hard-fought affair with Edgar bringing his classic late-round dynamics, but it wasn’t enough to tip the balance of the fight. Aldo emerged victorious, and the former 155-pound king was handed his third consecutive loss.
Yet rather than focus on how the fight put him in a dubious place of having suffered three consecutive setbacks, Edgar saw something in what transpired with Aldo that told him things would be different should they ever get into the Octagon again.
“Jose Aldo is a very impressive fighter,” Edgar told Bleacher Report last October. “You look at the way he goes in there and just steamrolls guys. He didn’t do that to me. He’s not going to do that to me, and I can’t wait to get in there with him again.”
Following the loss in his featherweight debut, Edgar did what he’s always done, as he dug in and turned things around. The results have been outstanding, as three straight dominant performances have him once again sitting within striking distance of another championship opportunity. Where the pressure of adversity has been known to sink the most talented fighters, resilience is an attribute Edgar has in spades.
He’s consistently proving that the storyline should have never been anything other than a fighter, father and husband who has consistently been one of the best at what he does almost as long as he’s been doing it. Every avenue in life is going to come with ups and downs, but Edgar is going to fight to be successful as long as he has the chance to do so.
“I never paid attention to anyone who may have written me off,” Edgar told Bleacher Report in a recent interview.
“The people who matter to me, my coaches, teammates and family never stopped believing in me for a second. Those are the people that truly matter to me. If I listened to the things everyone out there had to say, I would probably lose my mind. I’ve always believed in myself. Even with the bumps in the road and all of those things, I’m here and still plugging away. I never let people get me down.
“I don’t think you have time to look back in this sport. Especially with how fickle people can be and you are only as good as your last fight. That’s 100 percent true. There are so many fights going on now that it’s tough to remain in people’s minds for a long time. You can put on a killer performance one day, then the next weekend someone else puts on a great performance, and everyone forgets about what you did a week before that.
“You have to make sure you don’t lose that next fight because months will pass before you’ll get another opportunity,” he added. “There will be a million fights in between. You have to keep winning and pushing forward, especially with how fast things are moving nowadays.”
Where Edgar originally made his name for putting on gritty, barn-burner affairs inside the Octagon, his recent stretch of fights have come with an entirely different tone. The same elements of his style are present, with the perpetual-motion footwork and quick switches and level changes behind a solid boxing game, but the results have been far more lopsided that in his past efforts.
The 33-year-old featherweight beat the brakes off of Penn in their trilogy bout last July, then followed that performance up by thoroughly dominating—then finishing—surging contender Cub Swanson during their collision at Fight Night 57 in November.
Therefore with different results, the question becomes: What exactly has changed in Edgar’s approach? And where the answer to such inquiries are typically filled with bravado and self-appreciation, once again the modesty of a man who has continued to push himself shines through.
“I can’t really say what it is to be honest with you,” Edgar said. “I feel like I’m always training hard and putting everything I have into every fight. I’m just coming into my own I guess. I feel like I’m in my prime, and all the experience I’ve had and all the years I’ve been doing it all comes together. I’m hitting my stride I guess you could say.
“It’s tough to say I’m seeing things different out there because I listen so much to my corner. I can’t say I’m seeing things better, but maybe they are seeing things better or more clearly now. I’ve been fighting at the top for a long time. It’s not like I was never good before and now I’m finally winning fights. I was the champion at one time or another. Now, I’m able to dominate a bit more, and I’m able to be a different fighter too.
“People are impressed with one thing you do from one fight to the next, and it’s because you did the work to improve your game in the time between those fights,” he added. “Every fight is different, and you have to keep growing. You can’t stop in this game, man.”
With Edgar’s constant pursuit of greatness comes another big fight on his path as he will face former WEC featherweight champion and longtime poster boy for the lighter weight classes in Urijah Faber. The East Coast native will square off with The California Kid when the UFC makes its debut appearance in Manila for Fight Night 66 on May 16.
The two fighters have been working in different weight classes during their respective careers, but a potential bout between Edgar and Faber has been one fight fans have wanted to see for quite some time. Both have remained at the forefront of whatever division they’ve chosen to compete and managed to obtain consistency, which is arguably the most difficult task to achieve when competing at the highest level of MMA.
The fight’s announcement sparked a huge reaction from the MMA community, and Edgar knows this is the one fight that made absolute sense. With the featherweight title locked up until Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor handle their business at UFC 189, he needed to make sure whatever step he took had the potential to elevate him back into a championship opportunity.
And he has zero doubt a victory over the Team Alpha Male leader will make that happen.
“I’ve been a front-runner, a contender or a champion for quite a bit of time,” Edgar said. “You can say that about Urijah too. He’s always in the mix. He’s always close to a title shot, and that just adds another element of excitement to this fight.
“Anytime you get a win over a guy like Faber it’s going to add to your legacy and your career. Obviously my goal is to make my next step a title shot, and beating Urijah is only going to add to my chances of making that happen. If it’s a dominant win, I’m not sure how it can’t lead to a title shot.
“I can honestly say I’ve heard more people talking about this fight than any other fight I’ve had so far in my career. I don’t care what label people put on it or if they call it this or that; I know everyone is going to be into it. I was walking through the airport recently and people were even talking about it there like, ‘Oh, you’re fighting Urijah Faber. I can’t wait to see that fight.’ People are excited, and it makes me excited.
“I’m the No. 1 contender right now, and there is no one I can fight that is going to put me any higher in the title picture,” he added. “I figured why not fight a guy like Urijah who has done so much in his career? He’s a legend in the lighter weight classes, and he’s highly ranked himself at 135-pounds. For the most part, he only fights championship fights so why not? Why not add him to the list?”
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
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