Frank Mir Questions Frankie Edgar’s Decision To Fight Brian Ortega

Even though it’s been nearly a week since this fight happened, people continue to come out and comment on Frankie Edgar’s last fight. In the co-main event of UFC 222 event that went down March 3, 2018 on pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Brian Ortega scored a big victory over the […]

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Even though it’s been nearly a week since this fight happened, people continue to come out and comment on Frankie Edgar’s last fight.

In the co-main event of UFC 222 event that went down March 3, 2018 on pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Brian Ortega scored a big victory over the former UFC lightweight champion.

As for the reason that people were questioning Edgar’s decision to take this fight is due to everything he had on the line.

Edgar was originally scheduled to challenge for the featherweight title currently held by Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 222.

However, Holloway had to pull out of the fight with an injury. All Edger had to do is not fight at this event and wait for Holloway to get healthy enough to fight again and then boom, he has the title shot that he has fought hard to earn.

You have to keep in mind that Edgar had not fought since May of 2017 before UFC 222 and if he didn’t take the Ortega fight then he would’ve been out of action for most likely a year.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir has recently spoken out about this fight.

According to the now-Bellator star, he believes this is a fight that should not have been agreed upon by the Edgar camp in the first place.

“If I was Frankie Edgar’s manager and he wants to take this fight, I’d be like ‘No, Frankie, we’re not taking this fight,” Mir said on his Phone Booth Fighting podcast (transcript courtesy of Bloody Elbow). “Why? Because this is a dangerous fight. This guy is big, he hits hard, he’s knocked out everybody he’s fought so far in the UFC, and if you go out there and just barely beat him, it makes us look worse going into our Max Holloway fight.”

“We’re also gonna take the time off. You’re an older athlete, you’ve been fighting for a long time, you’ve earned your title shot. You’ve earned your place in UFC lore, you’re gonna be a f—king Hall-of-Famer. We don’t need to give a hand out to this kid Ortega and help him out.”

“You taking this fight is not what’s best for you,” Mir continued. “You have nothing to gain, the other kid Ortega has everything in the f—king world to gain. Even if he fights you in a close war, his stock goes up and your stock drops. Who wants those kinds of fights?”

Mir went one step further by saying that he thinks Edgar would excel  if the UFC made a weight class in between featherweight and bantamweight. It should be noted that Edgar’s own coach Mark Henry thinks he could fight Edgar.

“I think Edgar is just screwed that 135 is too difficult of a cut for him, and (at) 145, he still looks small against everybody he fights at featherweight,” Mir said. “He almost has the length of a guy who is at the bantamweight weight class, but just can’t quite cut the muscle tissue to get down there and effectively be able to perform.”

“When guys are smaller in correlation to their size and percentage, it’s a bigger difference,” Mir added. “Someone being 20 pounds bigger than me at 260 to 280, that’s the difference of like a five-pound difference down there at the 130’s.”

“I can lose five pounds by skipping breakfast. (But) tell Demetrious Johnson ‘hey, we need to drop five pounds in the next hour.’ He can’t just skip breakfast, he’s gonna be bouncing around for a while, because (it’s) five pounds in percentage to his weight.”

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Brian Ortega Eyeing Move To Lightweight After Featherweight Title Shot

After becoming the first man to ever finish former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in the co-main of March 3’s UFC 222 in Las Vegas, Brian Ortega earned himself a shot at 145-pound titleholder Max Holloway. And after that fight takes place, Ortega has his sights set on ‘something big’: “I’ve definitely thought about it,” Ortega […]

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After becoming the first man to ever finish former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in the co-main of March 3’s UFC 222 in Las Vegas, Brian Ortega earned himself a shot at 145-pound titleholder Max Holloway.

And after that fight takes place, Ortega has his sights set on ‘something big’:

“I’ve definitely thought about it,” Ortega told the UFC Unfiltered podcast. “My goal is if I’m successful against Max Holloway, then I’m looking at some opportunities and things in the 155-pound division. We need the perfect match up, not just a regular match. I really want to give [the fans] a war, something crazy, something big.”

Given his size and skill set, it’s certainly possible that the man dubbed “T-City” could be successful at 155-pounds.

A black belt under Rener Gracie, Ortega has consistently improved his striking to become a well-rounded fighter. At just 27 years of age, he’s undefeated and riding an impressive six-fight UFC winning streak that includes six victories by way of stoppage.

Would you like to see Ortega move up in weight in the future?

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Brian Ortega Explains His Motivation Before Defeating Frankie Edgar

Brian Ortega is riding high on top of the world right now. As for the reason? It’s due to his most recent victory in the Octagon under the UFC banner. In the co-main event of Saturday’s (March 3, 2018) UFC 222 event on pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Ortega scored a […]

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Brian Ortega is riding high on top of the world right now.

As for the reason? It’s due to his most recent victory in the Octagon under the UFC banner.

In the co-main event of Saturday’s (March 3, 2018) UFC 222 event on pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Ortega scored a big victory over former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar.

UFC President Dana White has already made it known in interviews after the fight that Ortega would be the next challenger for the featherweight title currently held by Max Holloway, who was originally supposed to face Edgar in the main event of UFC 222.

Appearing on The MMA Hour on Monday, Ortega gave insight into his motivation leading into this fight against the MMA legend.

So what was that motivation? Well, it came from his inner circle, and his brother was the driving force behind his upset over the former UFC champion.

“The energy was fun with him this week,” Ortega said (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting). “Actually, right before the fight, he was with me all week sleeping in my room and just hanging out with me, and he fell asleep on me.

“We’re both sleeping and I’m getting my rest before the fight and I looked down and I woke up and I looked at him and I go: ‘You better not f’ing fail this kid.’ I remember telling myself, ‘You better not f’ing fail this kid.’ He was a big motivation for me this weekend.”

“My boxing coach James Luhrsen and I really trained hard, we even called it, we’re going to catch him with this uppercut. I said the way he is and he comes in that uppercut’s going to land,” Ortega said. “I can remember during the training camp, we would go and train, just me and him, and we would do 10 five-minute rounds and just drill the hell out of these things. To the point where I’m like, ‘Come on dude, that’s enough uppercut-left hook. You can’t do 10 rounds of uppercut-left hook.’ As a coach, now I see, okay you were right. I always hate saying you were right, but you were right.

“Every single fight I’ve always tried to land something, but especially my uppercuts they just fall short, and this time I feel with – I don’t know how many rounds we did of training that with my coach, but when I see it, I could just imagine the mitt versus his chin and I just threw that uppercut and timed it right.”

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UFC Rankings Update: Brian Ortega Surpasses Jose Aldo After Huge Knockout

The UFC held their third pay-per-view (PPV) event of the year with last weekend’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and several pivotal rankings changes resulted. The most notable shift undoubtedly went to surging featherweight contender Brian Ortega, who overtook the No. 1 spot at 145 pounds for […]

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The UFC held their third pay-per-view (PPV) event of the year with last weekend’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and several pivotal rankings changes resulted.

The most notable shift undoubtedly went to surging featherweight contender Brian Ortega, who overtook the No. 1 spot at 145 pounds for his scintillating knockout of UFC great Frankie Edgar.

Previously ranked at No. 3 following his submission of Cub Swanson, Ortega pushed longtime former champion Jose Aldo out of the top spot, dropping him to No. 2 and Edgar to No. 3. The previously No. 3-ranked ‘T-City’ filled in for injured champion Max Holloway against Edgar at UFC 222, and will now move on to a title bout with “Blessed” according to UFC president Dana White.

In other rankings movement, former heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski rose two spots after a surprisingly wrestling-focused win over Stefan Struve on the main card. Struve fell two spots to No. 12. Debuting lightweight Alexander Hernandez stormed on to the Top 15 with his explosive first-round knockout over previous No. 12 Beneil Dariush, debuting at No. 13 while allowing Anthony Pettis to rise to 12 and dropping Dariush to 15.

John Dodson rose up a spot to No. 7 at bantamweight after a close win over Pedro Munhoz, and Bryan Caraway dropped two spots to No. 9 after a split decision loss to Cody Stamann, who debuted on the 135-pound rankings at No. 12. Finally, at women’s bantamweight, rising contender Ketlen Vieira moved up a spot to No. 4 after her decision win over No. 6 Cat Zingano while writers continue to rank Ronda Rousey, even though she fell two spots, despite her clearly being a WWE-employed pro wrestler.

Here are the fully updated rankings from the official UFC website:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Conor McGregor
3 Daniel Cormier
4 Stipe Miocic
5 Max Holloway
6 Georges St-Pierre
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Cris Cyborg
10 Tony Ferguson
11 Robert Whittaker
12 Khabib Nurmagomedov +2
12 Cody Garbrandt
14 Amanda Nunes -1
15 Joanna Jedrzejczyk

FLYWEIGHT
Champion : Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg
4 Jussier Formiga
5 Sergio Pettis
6 Wilson Reis
7 Brandon Moreno
8 Ben Nguyen
9 Dustin Ortiz
10 John Moraga
11 Matheus Nicolau
12 Tim Elliott
13 Alexandre Pantoja
14 Deiveson Figueiredo
15 Magomed Bibulatov

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion : TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Jimmie Rivera
5 Marlon Moraes
6 John Lineker
7 John Dodson +1
8 Aljamain Sterling +1
9 Bryan Caraway -2
10 Pedro Munhoz
11 Rob Font
12 Cody Stamann *NR
13 Thomas Almeida -1
14 Brett Johns -1
15 Eddie Wineland -1

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion : Max Holloway
1 Brian Ortega +2
2 Jose Aldo -1
3 Frankie Edgar -1
4 Cub Swanson
5 Jeremy Stephens
6 Josh Emmett
7 Ricardo Lamas
8 Chan Sung Jung
9 Darren Elkins
10 Yair Rodriguez
11 Renato Moicano
12 Mirsad Bektic
13 Calvin Kattar +1
14 Dooho Choi -1
15 Myles Jury

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion : Conor McGregor
1 Tony Ferguson (Interim Champion)
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Edson Barboza
5 Dustin Poirier
6 Justin Gaethje
7 Kevin Lee
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta
11 James Vick
12 Anthony Pettis +1
13 Alexander Hernandez *NR
14 Evan Dunham
15 Beneil Dariush -3

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion : Tyron Woodley
1 Stephen Thompson
2 Rafael Dos Anjos
3 Colby Covington
4 Robbie Lawler
5 Demian Maia
6 Jorge Masvidal
7 Darren Till
8 Kamaru Usman
9 Neil Magny
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Donald Cerrone
12 Carlos Condit
13 Gunnar Nelson
14 Dong Hyun Kim
15 Leon Edwards

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion : Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Jacare Souza
3 Luke Rockhold
4 Chris Weidman
5 Kelvin Gastelum
6 Michael Bisping
7 Derek Brunson
8 David Branch
9 Uriah Hall
10 Vitor Belfort
11 Thiago Santos
12 Lyoto Machida
13 Krzysztof Jotko
14 Paulo Costa
15 Brad Tavares

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion : Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Volkan Oezdemir
3 Glover Teixeira
4 Jimi Manuwa
5 Ilir Latifi
6 Ovince Saint Preux
7 Mauricio Rua
8 Misha Cirkunov
9 Corey Anderson
10 Patrick Cummins
11 Jan Blachowicz
12 Tyson Pedro
13 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
14 Gian Villante
15 Jordan Johnson *NR

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion : Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Fabricio Werdum
4 Cain Velasquez
5 Curtis Blaydes
6 Derrick Lewis
6 Mark Hunt
8 Alexander Volkov
9 Marcin Tybura
10 Andrei Arlovski +2
11 Aleksei Oleinik
12 Stefan Struve -2
13 Junior Albini -1
14 Tai Tuivasa -1
15 Shamil Abdurakhimov *NR

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion : Rose Namajunas
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
5 Tecia Torres
6 Carla Esparza
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Felice Herrig
9 Cynthia Calvillo
10 Alexa Grasso
11 Cortney Casey +1
12 Randa Markos -1
13 Joanne Calderwood
14 Tatiana Suarez
15 Nina Ansaroff

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion : Nicco Montano
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Sijara Eubanks
3 Lauren Murphy
4 Alexis Davis
5 Roxanne Modafferi
6 Barb Honchak
7 Liz Carmouche
8 Katlyn Chookagian
9 Jessica-Rose Clark
10 Jessica Eye
11 Montana De La Rosa
12 Rachael Ostovich
13 Mara Romero Borella
14 Paige VanZant
15 Shana Dobson

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion : Amanda Nunes
1 Holly Holm
2 Raquel Pennington
3 Julianna Pena
4 Ketlen Vieira +1
5 Germaine de Randamie -1
6 Cat Zingano
7 Marion Reneau
8 Sara McMann
9 Bethe Correia
10 Leslie Smith -1
11 Aspen Ladd +1
12 Lucie Pudilova +1
13 Ronda Rousey -2
14 Irene Aldana
15 Sarah Moras

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Brian Ortega Gets The Call from Dana White Confirming His Title Shot Against Max Holloway

Brian Ortega is getting his title shot. Not that it should be a surprise to anybody that Ortega is the No. 1 contender at featherweight after becoming the first fighter in history to finish Frankie Edgar this past weekend at UFC 222, but now it’s…

Brian Ortega is getting his title shot. Not that it should be a surprise to anybody that Ortega is the No. 1 contender at featherweight after becoming the first fighter in history to finish Frankie Edgar this past weekend at UFC 222, but now it’s all official. On Monday, UFC president Dana White called Ortega […]

The post Brian Ortega Gets The Call from Dana White Confirming His Title Shot Against Max Holloway appeared first on MMA News.

Frankie Edgar Reacts To First-Ever Knockout Loss At UFC 222

A shocking changing of the guard took place at this past Saturday night’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas when surging contender Brian Ortega knocked out longtime mainstay Frankie Edgar in the co-main event. Ortega had been stellar throughout his entire unbeaten six-fight UFC run, but few thought he […]

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A shocking changing of the guard took place at this past Saturday night’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas when surging contender Brian Ortega knocked out longtime mainstay Frankie Edgar in the co-main event.

Ortega had been stellar throughout his entire unbeaten six-fight UFC run, but few thought he would handle “The Answer” with such ease – especially on the feet considering he was mainly hyped for his stellar Brazilian jiu-jitsu skill.

Edgar was doing well early on, using his trademark movement to land accurate punches on a much bigger Ortega, yet none of them had close to the impact that “T-City’s” eventual lead elbow and the uppercut that followed to drop Edgar like we’ve never seen before did. The loss was a majorly brutal one for Edgar, a throwback fighter who never even considered not taking the fight after champion Max Holloway pulled out of their originally scheduled title fight because he most likely could have waited for Holloway a second time.

The fact that he didn’t is a testament to his true fighting spirit, win or lose, and he’s not going to stop doing that just because he was sent packing.

Edgar’s longtime boxing coach was at the head of a deserved outpouring of support, issuing a statement of full support and praise for the UFC great, and earlier today, the fighter himself addressed the loss. Always classy, Edgar gave his props to Ortega and vowed he’d be back to put it on the line again:

The former lightweight champ deserves a measure of respect for taking a fight in which he had everything to lose and his only reward was the positioning he had already earned, yet there’s no doubt it’s a big setback for a 36-year-old fighter in a division that’s undergone a major youth movement in the past two years thanks to Holloway and Ortega.

But the iron-willed Edgar is far from done.

The time may be now for Edgar to make a long-rumored move down to 135 pounds if he can because he was towered over by “T-City” in Las Vegas.

Many high-profile fights could await him there, and it could also be a much shorter path to one last title run if he decided he could cut the weight.

He’s fallen short in two featherweight title fights and had two more fall apart due to injury, but a final 145-pound push isn’t out of the question for one of the UFC’s most consistently excellent fighters of all-time.

Where, or whom, do you think Edgar should fight next?

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