“What’s right?”
That was Frankie Edgar‘s question after losing his title to Ben Henderson in an epic bout at UFC 144. Edgar fought his heart out, taking Henderson to the limit. You could easily make the case Edgar won the five-round battle—Frankie and others certainly did.
A rematch seemed the natural thing to do. After all, Frankie is no stranger to rematches. When Edgar won the title in a close fight against B.J. Penn, the UFC immediately granted Penn a rematch. Edgar’s draw with Gray Maynard last year was also replayed nine months later.
But, UFC President Dana White was hesitant to pull the trigger. White would clearly prefer to see Edgar drop down to 145 pounds to face featherweight champion Jose Aldo. Frankie, to his credit, stuck to his guns.
He didn’t want Aldo. He wanted to finish his business with Henderson. He thought he won the first fight and doesn’t want to let an opponent he thinks he can beat run him out of the division. Edgar’s confident.
And history tells us that he should be. Against Penn and Maynard, Edgar showed marked improvement between the first and second fights. The first fight with Penn was a razor-thin decision. In the second, Edgar dominated the five-round bout. Maynard didn’t survive his third fight with Edgar, falling by knockout in the fourth round.
Edgar and his team are able to get inside their opponent’s head. They figure out exactly what he intends to do, and the second time around, they capitalize on it in a major way.
The first fight was a tough one for Ben Henderson. In the rematch, he better come ready to fight because he’s going to find himself in a brand-new fight with a brand-new Frankie Edgar. It looks like 2012 just got its odds-on favorite for fight of the year.
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