Frankie Edgar is the second best lightweight in the world. I don’t think anyone can dispute that claim as he’s beaten a number of top 155-pounders and is a very talented fighter.
Edgar once again saw himself in a close decision against Benson Henderson at UFC 150. This time, however, the decision was as close as ever.
The MMA community has been in an uproar lately following the split decision victory for Henderson in the main event of UFC 150. You could hear arguments for both sides and they could both be right depending on how you score fights.
An argument that fans have been making is for Edgar to drop to 145 pounds to solve his recent woes but to me, Edgar needs a change of styles. If he were to stop worrying about scoring points and took some chances, the New Jersey native could’ve been announced as the winner and new champion.
At the moment, it’s tough to declare anyone the decisive winner from the main event at UFC 150, but I do know that Edgar did nowhere near enough to decisively be awarded the UFC title.
Edgar had a number of chances to at least land some significant strikes and score some much needed points but failed to take any chances to recapture the title.
It’s one thing to fight a smart fight and stick to a gameplan but Edgar’s point fighting style finally came back to bite him after dropping the bout to Henderson. He had Henderson hurt at one point and instead of attempting to secure a dominant position or looking to finish, Edgar chose to hold onto a front headlock.
The lack of action allowed Henderson to recover and the two men were quickly back to avoiding any extended engagements on the feet or on the mat.
At another point in the fight, Edgar once again had the chance to take a top position or at least land some damaging blows but chose to hold onto the front head lock again.
Did he really believe that doing the EXACT same things he did at UFC 144 to lose the title would earn him a victory at UFC 150? If the strategy didn’t work the first time, why would he employ it again in a rematch?
In the previews for UFC 150, Edgar believed he only needed to do a little better than he did at UFC 144 to regain the belt. Edgar was able to avoid the massive swelling and power punches by Henderson but failed to capitalize on any of the openings presented to him.
To take someone’s title, a challenger needs to be more aggressive than the champion; he needs to take every advantage and every opening he can. Edgar failed to do that because he would rather run around throwing one or two punches to score points. Instead of trying to score points, Edgar should’ve been looking to score a finish.
When in a title contest, it’s up to the challenger to leave little doubt as to why he should be awarded the title; Edgar failed to do that.
The fact that there is so much debate about the decision is evident that Edgar failed to take the victory from Henderson. The champion didn’t lose the fight but Edgar didn’t win it either. It was about as close to a draw as a fight could get which means the belt stays with Mr. Henderson.
If Edgar and his camp wanted to bring the belt back to New Jersey, perhaps they should’ve taken it from Henderson instead of expecting it to be handed to them by a few judges.
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