Frankie Edgar News

Tom Taylor - March 8, 2018

Last Saturday night, in the co-main event of the action-packed UFC 222, former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar risked the featherweight title shot he had so clearly earned in a short-notice bout with surging contender Brian Ortega. Unfortunately for Edgar, this bout went disastrously, as he was put down by an Ortega in the uppercut in the very first round of the fight. This knockout loss marked the first time Edgar had ever been finished in his illustrious career. It also meant that his claim to a featherweight title shot had been dashed – quite possibly forever. As such, it’s no surprise that this loss caused absolute devastation among his cornermen, who watched on nervously from cage-side.

Justin Golightly - March 6, 2018

.@MightyMouseUFC offering up some kind words of motivation to @FrankieEdgar while looking back on his own loss to @DominickCruz. #UFC222 pic.twitter.com/BAmo8y2Dvb — Justin Golightly (@SecretMovesMMA) March 6, 2018

Tom Taylor - March 5, 2018

If things had gone according to the original plan, Frankie Edgar would have challenged Max Holloway for the UFC featherweight title in the main event of last Saturday’s UFC 222 card. When Holloway was forced out of this fight with an injury, however, Edgar accepted a late-notice battle with surging contender Brian Ortega, putting his well-deserved title shot on the line in an incredibly high-risk move. Unfortunately for Edgar and his fans, his featherweight title dreams were dashed yet again, as he was put down by an Ortega uppercut in the first round, which marked his very first stoppage loss.

Chris Taylor - March 4, 2018

Frankie Edgar’s coach issues emotional statement following KO loss to Brian Ortega Former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar (22-6-1 MMA) suffered the first stoppage loss of his legendary mixed martial arts career to Brian Ortega at last night’s UFC 222 event in Las Vegas.

Justin Golightly - March 3, 2018

.@briantcity reveals he’w starting the Brian Ortega Foundation and T-City Scholarship to give back to the kids in his community: “I just want to make them smile and have some fun with them.” #UFC #UFC222 pic.twitter.com/0VK4eH7L3X — José Youngs (@JoseYoungs) March 1, 2018

Justin Golightly - March 3, 2018

In just a few hours, all eyes are going to be on Brian Ortega in his high-profile, large stakes fight with former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar. Correction, all eyes will be on the ground. Ortega is on a crazy 13-fight win streak and 7 of those are all by submission. His latest sub was against elite featherweight Cub Swanson and he’ll look to do the same tonight at UFC 222. However, he’s been doing it long before he stepped inside an MMA cage. #UFC222 co-headliner @BrianTcity is the real deal, but you may also want to keep your eye on his lil bro. More from Ortega here: https://t.co/Cxn5uXL62i pic.twitter.com/JCd4uxJF4N

Justin Golightly - March 1, 2018

This is Brian Ortega’s moment on Saturday. You can almost hear Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’ playing in the background when thinking about the upcoming match-up with Frankie Edgar. At only 27-years old, this may not be Ortega’s ‘one shot’, but it certainly is his biggest yet. Edgar has made a career about being the enforcer who stops any hot prospect from getting a title shot besides him. While he may not know it, Edgar will be doing all he can to stop Ortega from not only getting that fight for the belt, but from moving out of the hood. “I don’t count my chickens before they hatch you know. It sucks man, it sucks. I’m still in the hood, but you know, luckily I got love there and no one messes with me. The goal honestly, the way I see things happening is I beat Frankie [Edgar], then I have some good money, then I fight for the belt and that’s when I take off and buy my own house or whatever. It’s expensive over here in LA, man.”

Justin Golightly - February 27, 2018

Frankie Edgar has been pretty quiet since Conor McGregor came out with the news that he offered to fight the former lightweight champion at UFC 222. It’s now been confirmed by two sources that this fight was going to be for the 165-pound title, however Edgar still says he was never approached about it. It doesn’t matter though, he says he’d fight McGregor at any weight if he was actually offered the fight. “I woke up from a nap and I saw [news about Conor McGregor saying he was supposed to step in to fight me at UFC 222] it on Twitter. That’s the first I heard of it. I mean, come on, there is no 165-pound belt. You know what I’m saying? I want to fight on the moon. You know what I mean? Come on. [Conor McGregor] doesn’t want to defend his own belt. What, he wants to fight me? I mean, hey, that’d be great. That’d be great for me. Let’s be real. I’m not scared to fight anybody. Come on, I’ve been doing too long to be scared to fight anybody. I mean, if anything, that would be very good for me, to fight Conor McGregor.

Justin Golightly - February 22, 2018

The fire just keeps roaring and spreading. Conor McGregor lit the MMA world ablaze by saying he was going to step in to fight Frankie Edgar at UFC 222. Immediately, Edgar’s manager Ali Abdel-Aziz put the Irishman on blast on social media and to ESPN. Now, Edgar’s coach Mark Henry took to Instagram to write a lengthy post calling Conor McGregor’s bluff. While partly complimentary, Henry takes serious issue with McGregor’s character. “When you bring up Frankie Edgar’s name, that’s the perfect picture for you Conor McGregor. You ducked him three times in the past, Edgar and his manager Ali Abdel-Aziz asked for Conor’s name specifically when Max went down, but we knew you only take stylistically what is a good match for you and you ducked him three times already. It’s bad enough you post crappy posts putting people down when you have never defended a title cut lines to titles and 90-percent of the time fight people in your comfort zone. I agree Conor is an amazing, amazing fighter and has transcended the game with his accent, personality, wit, incredible fighting style, power, intelligence and don’t forget trashing people some of the best stand-up I’ve ever seen in MMA, which beat a great and one of my own guys. I really thought he had a chance first two rounds to beat [Floyd] Mayweather.”

Justin Golightly - February 22, 2018

Earlier today, Conor McGregor served an appetizer to those that are eagerly awaiting his return to the Octagon. The self-proclaimed Champ Champ™ came out of nowhere and went on record saying that he actually offered to step up and wipe out the ‘final featherweight’ Frankie Edgar in place of Max Holloway at UFC 222. According to him, the UFC wasn’t able to ‘generate the money’ to put it together. Before the steam even cleared even cleared from that heat, Edgar’s manager Ali Abdel-Aziz was already speaking out about the claim. On McGregor’s claim he offered to fight Frankie Edgar at UFC 222, Edgar’s manager @AliAbdelaziz00 tells me, “He’s full a s—. He’s a liar. He should have fought Frankie two years ago.”

Justin Golightly - February 22, 2018

If there wasn’t already enough plot twists in the saga of Frankie Edgar and Max Holloway’s fight which has been rescheduled twice now, Conor McGregor just dropped a bombshell on everything. While a long list of opponents was being gone through to find a replacement for UFC featherweight champion Holloway, evidently McGregor threw his name in the hat to fight Edgar at UFC 222. In an unexpected turn of events, it was actually the UFC that turned it down due to the lack of money and time to make it the fight they wanted it to be. “I am fighting again. Period. I am the best at this. I put my name forward to step in at UFC 222 to face Frankie Edgar when Max Holloway pulled out, but I was told there wasn’t enough time to generate the money that the UFC would need. I was excited about bouncing in last minute and taking out the final featherweight, without all the rest of the stuff that comes with this game. Please respect the insane amount of work outside the fight game that I have put in on top of the fighting. I am here. It is on them to come and get me. Because I am here. Yours sincerely, The Champ Champ™.” – Conor McGregor via his official Instagram.

Justin Golightly - February 22, 2018

After Brian Ortega submitted Cub Swanson at UFC Fresno, everyone was asking him if he was going to fight UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway next. His answer? He’d let Frankie Edgar get his shot first. Normally, nice guys finish last in this combat sports game, but for Ortega it looks like things have worked out. After the title bout between Edgar and Holloway has fallen through twice, Ortega jumped at the chance to fight Edgar not only to guarantee he fights for the belt next, but to get over with the fans and the UFC. “When you think about it, there’s guys and there’s fighters who have waited before that got promised a title shot and things never happened. For whatever reason, they had to fight again and it just never happened. So, the way I looked at it, this [fight with Frankie Edgar] is a blessing in disguise. I beat Frankie and it insures a for sure title shot without question, without wait. If I beat Frankie, automatically the fight between myself and Max [Holloway] will get booked. So, I figured why wait and keep your fingers crossed for that shot, wait even longer to fight and get a little cold?”

Tom Taylor - February 14, 2018

If things had gone according to plan, former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar would be challenging Max Holloway for the UFC featherweight title in the main event of UFC 222 on March 3. Regrettably, an injury forced Holloway out of this planned fight, which briefly left Edgar without an opponent. After several frantic days of searching, the UFC was able to book Edgar a new opponent in fellow featherweight contender Brian Ortega. The pair will fight in the UFC 222 co-main event, with women’s featherweight Cris Cyborg and challenger Yana Kunitskaya now fighting i the headlining spot.

Tom Taylor - February 13, 2018

If things had gone according to the original plan, former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar would be challenging Max Holloway for the UFC featherweight title in the main event of the upcoming UFC 222 card. Regrettably, an injury forced Holloway out of this planned fight, which left Edgar without an opponent. After several frantic days of searching, the UFC was able to find Edgar a new opponent in surging UFC featherweight contender Brian Ortega. The pair will fight in the UFC 222 co-main event. Unfortunately for Edgar, no title will be on the line. Not even an interim title, which the UFC seems to hand out like candy on Halloween these days.

Justin Golightly - February 9, 2018

Everyone is familiar with the fable about the Tortoise and the Hare. The moral of the story was slow and steady wins the race. It ended up working out for Max Holloway. We all had our hands up in the air wondering when he would get his shot after taking out every contender imaginable. Now, the undefeated Brian Ortega is finally one single step closer to the featherweight title after an insane 13-fight win streak. However, Frankie Edgar is one giant step he’ll have to get over at UFC 222. Not only that, it’s on short notice. Ortega isn’t worried though, for him, it’s just like any other fight. “I’ve been in so many street fights. It doesn’t matter that I’m taking a fight on a month’s notice. I’ve taken many fights on two seconds’ notice. I was out of town, they asked if I want the fight [back at UFC New Orleans with Thiago Tavares in 2015] and I said, ‘Yep.’ I started running right there in the parking lot. It’s not a big deal. It’s like a street fight. If someone puts ’em up, you’ve gotta put ’em up. This is the fight for me [with Frankie Edgar]. Once I took it, I took a second to appreciate the hard work. I’m here. My face is on the poster, the fight’s going down. I’ve never seen this happening like this, so considering that, I’ve already won. Now when I fight Frankie and beat him, I’ll prove everything I need to all the fight fans.”

Justin Golightly - February 7, 2018

After UFC 222 was put in major jeopardy with Max Holloway’s leg injury, the UFC was scrambling 100mph in order to save the card. They were trying to get TJ Dillashaw to defend his title against Cody Garbrandt, while keeping Frankie Edgar on the card as the co-main in a non-title fight. Even Nate Diaz was in the running to jump on. It looks like now the UFC are trying to throw Cris Cyborg on the card to defend her women’s UFC featherweight title against former Invicta FC bantamweight champ Yana Kunitskaya. There are deals in place to have Cris Cyborg vs. Yana Kunitskaya for the women’s 145 belt headline UFC 222 on 3/3 w/ Frankie Edgar vs. Brian Ortega as the co-main, per multiple sources. Not 100% finalized but that’s the current direction and it’s looking promising at the moment.

Chris Taylor - February 3, 2018

Breaking! Frankie Edgar says he will still be at UFC 222 this March! Earlier today ESPN’s Brett Okamoto broke some unfortunate news that current UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway had suffered an injury and was forced out of his scheduled main event title fight with Frankie Edgar at UFC 222 on March 3 in Las Vegas.

Justin Golightly - February 3, 2018

After the crushing news of Max Holloway’s injury that will force him out of his UFC 222 title fight with Frankie Edgar, the UFC is absolutely scrambling to get a new main event. There are a ton of different directions that the organization could go with Jose Aldo, Cub Swanson, or even Darren Elkins if they keep Frankie Edgar on the card. A lot of fans and media were wondering if there would be yet another interim title put on the line, but is looks like the UFC has decided against that. The latest news on a replacement for Max Holloway is surging contender Brian Ortega in a non-title fight. UFC is working on salvaging 222. Obviously the card can’t be a PPV after losing that headliner (this is why not all second-to-last fights are “co-mains”). Might involve replacing Holloway vs Edgar or a new main altogether. Developing.