Frankie Edgar is the greatest role model in the history of the UFC.
Yes, he lost last night, and yes, his life narrative isn’t as compelling as Junior Dos Santos or Brian Stann or any other UFC fighter whose backstory is constantly referred to in pre-fight advertising, but the fact still remains that he’s the greatest role model of all past and present UFC fighters.
“Frankie Edgar beats up other little men with his fists so now he’s a great role model? Absurd!” You say?
Think again.
Frankie Edgar’s status as a role model doesn’t stem from his literal actions in the cage but from what those actions in the cage represent.
When Edgar fights, he perseveres. He weathers the storm and continues to find a way to win (or at least win in the eyes of the majority of MMA fans, according to Bleacher Report MMA’s front-page poll).
Edgar has also been the smaller fighter in nearly all of his fights, yet he was always undaunted by that fact and even became UFC lightweight champion despite pundits claiming Edgar’s true weight class was featherweight.
Edgar’s more recent behavior is also worthy of praise. Despite being on the wrong end of a controversial decision loss to Benson Henderson at UFC 150, he didn’t whine, he didn’t complain—he just decided to forget it and move along.
The common MMA fan (and the common person in general) can learn a lot from these examples Edgar set forth.
People can harness Edgar’s fighting spirit when they are depressed or downtrodden after a terrible day at work or after grim revelations that they may not ever amount to anything. Edgar’s in-cage exploits also teach people that, despite being smaller, they can still claim victory over a larger, more menacing foe if they just keep at it and never give up—if they persevere like Edgar.
Furthermore, Edgar accepting the loss to Henderson also teaches people not to dwell on defeat and temporary setbacks, it teaches them not to endlessly complain like the mindless cows on Teen Mom or Girls and to just forget it and move onto your next goal, whatever that may be.
Thus, following Frankie Edgar’s behavior would benefit people more than any other fighter in UFC history. Emulating Edgar would make whiny, slack-jawed gawkers into capable people who stop at nothing to accomplish their goals, and aren’t daunted by the inherent unfairness in life.
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