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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion Frankie Edgar will make his second attempt at dropping to bantamweight when he collides with venerable 135-pound bruiser Pedro Munhoz at the promotion’s upcoming UFC on ESPN 15 mixed martial arts (MMA) event on Aug. 22 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Edgar, who turns 39 in less than a month, is currently the +215 underdog to the submission-savvy Munhoz (-255), probably because the “Young Punisher” has won three of his last four, including his technical knockout victory over Cody Garbrandt at UFC 235 roughly one year back.
“Pedro’s been a stud in this weight class for a while,” Edgar told MMA Fighting. “He’s got some big wins over some very good guys. A win will put me in the direction I want to be. I know a lot of people are questioning where I’m at in my career. I’m a little bit older. I’m coming down a weight class. People are questioning my abilities here. I want to go out there, more so to prove to anybody else [wrong], but to prove to myself that I’m still a top dog in whatever weight class I fight in.”
Edgar (23-8-1) was originally scheduled to make his bantamweight debut back in January; however, “The Answer” gambled on a short-notice bout against Chan Sung Jung at UFC Busan, a featherweight send off that ended in Edgar’s second straight loss at 145 pounds.
Munhoz (18-4, 1 NC) is currently ranked No. 5 in the division so an upset win for Edgar would likely get him right into the Top 10 at 135 pounds. And with his resume in UFC, it’s not unrealistic to think “The Answer” could be in line for another title shot with one or two high-profile wins in his new weight class.
It all starts this Sat. night in “Sin City.”