Coach Mark Henry offered Frankie Edgar some words of encouragement on social media.
Frankie Edgar suffered the biggest setback of his career at UFC 222, losing to surging featherweight contender Brian Ortega in the co-main event at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
Edgar, who was originally supposed to challenge reigning champion Max Holloway for the featherweight title in the main event, was brutally knocked out in the first round with a crushing elbow and follow-up uppercut.
Several fighters, including Holloway and Conor McGregor, paid their respects to Edgar for going ahead with a non-title fight against one of the division’s brightest prospects and, yesterday, long-time coach and friend Mark Henry released a touching statement on Instagram.
“You’re beyond Blessed in your life if you’ve had the privilege to meet 1 great person in your life,” Henry posted. “I’m talking about someone who impacts just thousands around him and changes and impacts your life for the better. It been a absolute miracle in my almost 50 years to have had 2 of these amazing men in my life. My father in law Pino and my little brother @frankieedgar. Even though I’m a lot older than Frankie, he has taught me way more lessons in life than I could have ever taught him.
“Besides being an incredible son, brother, father, husband, friend, general, mentor, champion, teammate and example to millions, I can’t thank him enough for being the most incredible example to my son for the past 13 years. So hard in these times to find a great role model for your kids these days and I’ve been Blessed beyond belief to have had this man be an example to what is dearest to me. Forget this fight stuff there’s way bigger things in life and it’s a GUARANTEE FE will be back stronger than ever!! Congratulations to Brian Ortega and his amazing team. Brian’s awesome example to kids. Thanks so much to everyone for always giving love and respect to our Champ”.
It was the first time Edgar, a career underdog, had ever been knocked out. ‘The Answer’ was badly hurt and wobbled in both championship epics against Gray Maynard back in 2011 but persevered to win the rematch and defend his lightweight title after fighting Maynard to a draw at UFC 125.
Edgar, 36, is still ranked above Ortega as the No. 2 featherweight contender in the world but is likely to slip a few places when the UFC updates the rankings in the coming days.