Frankie Edgar won his rematch against Ben Henderson at UFC 150 earlier this month in my opinion, but was robbed of the title by a controversial decision that went against him.
If it had been made official, the victory would have earned him his fourth belt in the lightweight division after two previous defences, and it would have assured him a spot as a top three pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
He is that already, in many people’s eyes, but two straight defeats have marred what is otherwise a remarkable achievement.
Edgar is the smallest lightweight in the UFC, and it’s that fact that sets him apart from all the other fighters in the stacked division. The fact that he has risen to the top of that highly talented pack, fighting against men who seem to tower several weight classes above him, makes you wonder just what kind of storm he could create if he cut down to face men his own size.
At 5’6″, his frame is equivalent, if not slightly smaller, than featherweight champ Jose Aldo. And we’ve heard talk, not least from UFC president Dana White himself, that Edgar is the only man out there who could realistically challenge the Brazilian for his belt.
Edgar does not cut weight to fight at 155, which he barely reaches anyway, and as he himself admits, the only reason he competes at lightweight is because when he got in the world of mixed martial arts, there was no lower division.
Those days are long gone, and now we have both featherweight and bantamweight divisions full of talent.
Among the 135-pounders, Dominick Cruz is king, and it’s astonishing to consider that Cruz is a good two inches taller than Edgar with a similar reach. A man of Edgar’s size, who has taken apart the best the lightweight division has to offer has more than a shot of dominating the lower weight classes.
If he cuts to featherweight, which shouldn’t be too tall an order for him, and then proceeds to drop further down to 135, he could easily become the UFC’s first three-division champion.
This is a tantalising proposition, however, it’s not one Edgar is in any rush to take. As much of a pummelling as he takes among the lightweights, he still holds his own.
Having lost such a close match against Ben Henderson, which he should have won, dropping down now would be like giving up. And that is not something that the Rocky Balboa of our sport has ever contemplated.
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