A matchup worthy of a pay-per-view main event was given to the fans on free television, with Frankie Edgar defeating Chad Mendes by technical knockout in the first round of their featherweight showdown at The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale on Friday night.
Mendes was in need of a victory after losing two of his last three bouts, albeit both defeats were in title fights against Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor.
Edgar, who came into this battle ranked as the No. 2 featherweight by UFC.com, has been steadily building himself back into title contention with three straight wins and could have earned himself a shot at the winner of Saturday’s Aldo-McGregor matchup at UFC 194.
Here’s the full list of winners from the TUF 22 Finale at Las Vegas:
Edgar and Mendes came out in the first round sizing each other up, waiting to pick their spots. Mendes was opportunistic with his kicks, landing multiple shots to Edgar’s lower half. He tried going for a big haymaker about two minutes in, but Edgar slipped out of the way.
Just when it seemed like Mendes was going to be in control, Edgar stunned the former featherweight title contender with a hard right-left combo that sent Mendes crumbling to the mat less than three minutes into the opening round.
Fox Sports UFC provided the highlights of Edgar’s knockout win through its official Twitter account:
ESPN’s Ryen Russillo tweeted out a simple, perfect response to the fight’s stunning early conclusion:
It certainly wasn’t the way anyone would have predicted Edgar to win. He’s not a known for having knockout power, with just five of his 19 wins coming into Friday ending via knockout or TKO, his last one coming against B.J. Penn in 2014 after Penn came out of a 19-month retirement.
Per Fox Sports commentator Ariel Helwani, even Edgar seemed to be shocked by the way things ended:
In a potentially cruel twist of fate for Edgar, which he noted after the match, per MMAFighting.com, UFC president Dana White wasn’t around to see his impressive performance:
The “give it to me” that Edgar refers to is a title shot, which was mentioned earlier. It does seem like the 34-year-old has earned his spotlight match with his fifth straight win, including Friday night’s victory against the No. 3 ranked featherweight.
USA Today‘s Ben Fowlkes speculates about what Edgar could be doing on Saturday night if the Aldo-McGregor match goes a certain way:
A McGregor win would work to Edgar’s advantage because the two have never met in the Octagon. Aldo defeated Edgar at UFC 156 in what was Edgar’s first fight at featherweight, so White may not be so keen to give him another title shot if Aldo walks away victorious at UFC 194.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, this marks the first time Mendes has ever lost in a non-title fight. His career record is 17-4 with two losses to Aldo, one to McGregor and now Edgar.
Given Mendes’ track record in major fights against top-tier featherweights, it is fair to wonder how high his ultimate ceiling goes. There’s no doubt the 30-year-old is one of the best 145-pound fighters in the world, but at some point he has to start beating the fighters ranked ahead of him to maintain his spot.
While Mendes does have time to think about what his next move will be, Edgar will be keeping a close eye on Aldo and McGregor on Saturday. UFC needed a future challenger for the featherweight title to step up.
Edgar held up his end of the bargain and deserves the next title shot at some point in 2016, regardless of who the opponent might be.
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