(Don’t worry, Frankie, there will be plenty more where that came from.)
We know, we know, Frankie Edgar has already convinced Dana White to give him his rematch with newly crowned champ Ben Henderson sometime this summer, but hear us out. DW stated at the Silva/Sonnen II press conference earlier today that the UFC was looking for a way to move UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo from his bout against a to-be-determined opponent at UFC 149 to UFC 147. Combine that notion with the fact that White has long been rallying for Edgar to drop to 145 for an immediate title shot, and things start to get interesting, Potato Nation. Very interesting.
Take this tidbit from Edgar’s interview with MMAFighting, for instance, in which he says that the drop to 145 is “inevitable”, especially if Aldo’s name comes up:
We’ll see what the future holds, but I think it’s inevitable that I’ll eventually get down there. I just don’t know when. I’m all about fighting big fights, and fighting the best guys, and Jose Aldo’s one of them. We’ll see where it’s at, whether it’s at 145 or 155.
Considering that Edgar has never even shown a slight interest in dropping to 145, that’s all the confirmation we’re going to need. Start making your picks, ’cause this shit is going down.
But lo and behold, Edgar is still holding strong to his claims that a rematch Henderson will happen in the near future, stating “I was set on getting this belt back. We don’t know what the future holds, but I didn’t want to go down on those terms.” A clever ruse to make DW’s announcement seem all the more surprising? We think so. Don’t be fooled by the red herrings, Dana White is going to make Edgar an offer he can’t refuse, and Edgar is eventually going to cave beneath the almighty power of The Baldfather’s fist. We all have.
Let’s face it; the time for Edgar to make his move is now. We can debate all day about how close his fight with Henderson was and how one loss doesn’t mean he should drop a weight class and blah blah blah, but there’s no doubt that the majority of us would rather see him fight Aldo then rematch Henderson. Yes, their fight at UFC 144 was pretty awesome, but Edgar took a beating, like he has in nearly all of his fights at lightweight. For his safety alone, Edgar shouldn’t be fighting guys that outweigh him by 20 pounds come fight night just to prove a point. If “The Answer” wants his UFC career to last for as long as possible, he should start cutting to 145 and taking on guys his own size. Edgar knows it, and he told MMAFighting that so does Dana White:
[Dana] stressed that he thinks for the longevity of my career, 145 would be better. I told him I could see what points he was talking about, but right now I wanted the rematch, so he granted it.
Now there you go again with the rematch nonsense, Frankie. Look, we understand that you want your rematch, and rightfully so, but just think of what happens if your were to lose this one again. The drop to 145 would be next, now not by choice, but out of a need to save your career. And although this has worked out great for guys like Brian Stann and Tim Boetsch, it could be disastrous for you. Look at it this way; if you were to accept the Aldo fight now and lose, then the 155 pound division would still welcome you back. Write it off as a failed experiment ala Joe Warren and say that you felt weak or slow at featherweight. We’d eat it up like a crayfish dinner and still clamor that you deserve your rematch with Henderson. Despite DW’s insistence, you could call lightweight home for the time being.
Now let’s look at the other side of the coin. Say you lose to Henderson twice and then Aldo (granted you made it to a title shot unscathed), where do you go from there? Before you can even leave the arena, you’re written off as the Jon Fitch of not one, but two weight classes. You try to drop to 135 shortly thereafter, but show up over 20 pounds heavy for your debut and are subsequently released by the UFC. You take a couple fights under local promotions to get back into the big show, but unfortunately run into the next lightweight prodigy, who promptly beats your name out of existence. Desperate for the cash to support your now bloated lifestyle, you begin to pedal drugs on the street, until the day arrives that you get caught selling crack to an undercover police officer.
And when you find yourself cuffed in the backseat of the squad car next to a 350 lb man with not one, but two wallet chains and a tattoo of his mother with her eyes scratched out, you will know that you have truly hit rock bottom. All as a result of your stubbornness and pride. Take the fight with Aldo, Frankie. Take it for your own good.
So I ask unto you, Potato Nation, how do you think Edgar would fare against Aldo? And on the outside chance that Edgar won’t be the man to face Aldo at UFC 147, who would you like to pair him against for his featherweight debut? Granted, this is all dependent on whether or not Frankie is able to best Bendo in their rematch, but speculation is what we thrive in here at CP, so let’s strike while the iron’s hot. Or at least lukewarm.
-J. Jones
