Frankie Edgar - Jersey Shore's Answer

I'm in two minds about MMA becoming as popular as it has been the last few years. I'm not here to claim to be a purist or anything like that, believe me. My only issue is the existence of the nonsensical casuals who say and do dumb shit, like comparing Kamaru Usman, one of the best fighters on the planet, to Jose Mourinho. Okay, maybe I do consider myself quite a purist. In fairness, when I was like 10 years old stumbled across MMA by accident. I was flicking through channels on the Sky box. For context, I turn 24 in November, so essentially I've been a fan of the sport for almost two thirds of my entire life. Admittedly a casual myself for a significant amount of time, initially. Regardless, that's a long time for a sport with a linage that you'd struggle to trace back more than 30 years or so.

It might sound like I'm rambling. To be real with you, I slyly am... but I'm going somewhere with this so stick with me. See when it comes down to it, I really don't have any issues with casual fans at their nucleus. They're where the money lies, that's the case with most sports but it seems to hold even more significance with MMA; a sport that is still very much in its infancy. Now lemme bring this shit full circle and address what this piece is truly about. 

One problem that keen MMA fans such as myself face is trying to convince newer fans or the aforementioned casuals that a post prime or older fighter was once one of the best in the world. Couple of examples, and I won't even stretch far. Look, since the world went into quarantine, we've seen Raphel Assuncao get absolutely wiped off the face the earth by a patchy Cody Garbrandt and Robbie Lawler dragged to near comatose levels of exhaustion by... *sigh* Neil fucking Magny. Two of the most skilled and durable fighters ever, made to look like lunch meat by fighters that for my money, they'd have made easy work of in their primes.

Piggybacking off of that though, we finally arrive at the subject of what, better yet, who I want to address here. Father time is undefeated, especially in the lower weight classes of MMA. He catches up with everyone eventually, then we get to the point where I'm fighting a losing battle trying to convince new fans that Robbie Lawler's legacy is more than Herb Dean's incompetence costing him a fight against Ben Askren. There is one guy though, a tough, hard nosed kid from New Jersey who continues to do the talking for me and other hardcore fans of the sport. We don't have to try to convince the casuals how good Frankie ''The Answer'' Edgar was in his prime because he's doing his best to show us how good he is in his twilight, using the same grit and adaptability he always has done.

So, some time ago, I collaborated with friends of the podcast Ivan and Reemz to compose a top 10 list of who we each believed to be the 10 greatest fighters in MMA history. Frankie is a fighter I strongly considered for my list but he honestly only missed out by two spots at most. Since then he's logged one of the best post prime wins in recent MMA history, against Pedro Muhnoz. Muhnoz is a talented fighter and a somewhat overlooked name in a stacked division. A good athlete with solid power, great wrestling, lethal jiu jitsu and breathtaking durability. A fighter who to that point had only lost to the elite at 135 (Assuncao, Rivera, Dodson and Sterling. The Rivera and Dodson fights were both razor thin and could have gone either way).

Could you argue that Edgar is now a part of the elite at bantamweight? Would you win that argument? That's a whole different article altogether so I'll leave that for you to ponder. 

Frankie Edgar is a guy who spent the lion share of his career in the wrong weight class. Hear this, the Muhnoz fight was his 33rd as a pro and it was just the second time ever that Frankie had a reach advantage (the other time being against Sean Sherk in 2009). As I touched on in my opening salvo, I've been a fan of the sport long enough to remember the UFC pre featherweight and below. Frankie still managed to have an all time great career at 155 despite being criminally undersized. At 9-0 Frankie took his first loss as pro when he faced TUF Season 5 alumni Gray Maynard, a huge 155er in his own right. Maynard didn't inflict much in terms of damage on the night, it seemed that he was just too big and strong for Frankie, who was ostensibly still finding his feet in MMA despite his obvious skill. Frankie bounced back with a five fight win streak that included beating the legendary BJ Penn twice, in a title win then defence. Frankie had legitimately won 18 rounds in a row since he had lost to Maynard and they were set to run it back for Frankie's second title defence. The improvements his game were clear, he was no longer just great wrestler with fast hands. He was now a dominant grappler with a sound pressure boxing game. 

Maynard and Edgar rematched at UFC 125 in one of my favourite fights ever. In the first round, Maynard dropped Edgar with a left hook, Edgar rolled through as he hit the deck and did his best to recover, only to be dropped twice more. He somehow managed to survive the round despite taking copious amounts of damage, truly one of the most dominant rounds of all time that didn't result in a finish. He still remains the only fighter in UFC history to not lose a fight in which he was dropped three times in one round, a testament to the durability and iron will he possesses. He came out and won the second round, convincingly might I add. He shook off the cobwebs and after winning the second round, by my personal scorecard, he went on to win two of the next three rounds. His speed advantage allowed him to employ movement, feints, calculated combination punching and even some wrestling of his own to unsettle and out score Maynard. The first round was an obvious 10-8 to Maynard, so the draw that was scored was accurate if you ask me.

A rematch seemed inevitable, and two agreed to fight nine months later at UFC 136. The first round started the way you'd expect, Edgar tried to stay on his bike, feint, score and navigate exchanges. Maynard used good lateral movement to cut off the cage and his power obviously had Frankie paranoid as he was easier than usual to cut off. Mid way through he caught Frankie with a stiff right uppercut that swung the round in his favour heavily. Once again the kid from Jersey was on the receiving end of a beating in a first round against Gray Maynard. What happened next? He rallied in perfect Frankie Edgar fashion and was actually up two rounds to one going into the fourth round. The speed advantage seemed too much, similar to the first fight and similar to most of Frankie's fights at 155lbs. Maynard just seemed to be a step behind despite winning the first round so decisively. He began to miss badly and Frankie was doing well to stick and move, mixing in a leg kick here and there on the end of his flurries to keep the plodding wrestler honest. With 1:16 left in the round, Edgar shot for a single leg, stuffed easily by Maynard, who was quickly dropped by a short right uppercut on the break. Frankie swarmed him for a TKO victory, shutting door on their rivalry and the trilogy of fights that to me, define his career.

Edgar's next title defence was against former WEC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, a big, strong, leg kicking extraordinaire with solid grappling. This would probably be the biggest size disadvantage Frankie faced in his entire career. It was telling. The first fight between these two all time great lightweights was wildly entertaining and competitive and Henderson definitely did enough to have his hand raised that night. The rematch is what I have an issue with. A HUGE issue for that matter. Cejudo vs Johnson, Max vs Volko II and Edgar vs Henderson II remain the three most egregious robberies I've ever seen in MMA. I don't have time to go into it, this piece is going to be long enough. What I will say is this, please, if you get a spare 35 minutes or so, watch that fight and do your best to make a case for Henderson winning two rounds let alone the three that two out of the three judges gave him. Frankie Edgar, ever classy, a genuinely nice guy was clearly pissed off during his post fight interview in the octagon, he and everyone watching knew that he had done more than enough to get his belt back. 

One door closed and another one opened, only to slam shut once again. Ten days or so after the second Henderson fight, Frankie announced his intentions to move down to 145lbs and was given an instant title shot against the greatest MMA fighter of all time. Edgar, true to form fought valiantly but was bested by Jose Aldo in an entertaining contest where Edgar definitely had his moments but ultimately fell short. Aldo's speed, footwork, take down defence and gorgeous jab proved too much for the former 155 champion to cope with on the day, so far it didn't seem that the speed advantage and inhumane work ethic Edgar had as a smaller guy at lightweight would translate to featherweight. 

Then Edgar ripped off the second five fight winning streak of his UFC career. Let me try my best to sum it up as well but as quickly as possible: Charles Olivera in a competitive yet definitive win for Frank. He did very well to stifle the tricky and aggressive jiu jitsu player in the relevant exchanges. A year later he beat seven shades of shit out of BJ Penn's corpse en route to a TKO victory, shutting the door on another trilogy of his. His next fight was a main event against Cub Swanson who was on a six fight win streak. Frankie submitted him with four seconds left in the fifth round in what might be the most brutal example of MMA grappling and ground and pound I've ever seen. Urijah Faber was next up for The Answer and he was on the receiving end of solid 50-45 shut out. Nothing flashy or even too dominant about this fight. Frankie just did enough in every phase to win this fight with relative ease. By this point Faber was past his prime, his athleticism had faded and his striking and footwork at this point were just too rudimentary for Edgar who had become one of the brightest technicians in the UFC. The fifth and final fight of his five fight streak was against another Team Alpha Male member, Chad Mendes, no doubt the biggest test of Edgar's featherweight career so far outside of Aldo. Mid way through the first round after a good start by both men, Frankie caught Mendes with a counter left hook clean on the jaw during a stiff pocket exchange. Mendes was beaten and Edgar had did everything he had to do to get a second bite at the featherweight cherry.

UFC 200. The milestone show (a shitty card outside of a few bright spots all things considered). Jose Aldo had just lost his title to Conor McGregor so the stage was set for he and Edgar to rematch for the interim championship. The rematch was even more one sided than their first fight. In what might be the best defensive performance that I've ever seen in MMA and arguably the best overall performance of Aldo's career. Frankie had answers for the educated jab that felled him in the first contest, unfortunately for him, Aldo realised this and the jab was replaced by piston counter rights. Aldo again, too fast, too slick, too good for Frankie Edgar, who also went 0 for 11 on his take down attempts. 

So what was next for Edgar? He was 0-4 in his last four title fights but he had too much clout to just slip down the ladder. Anyone who's an MMA fan will know what Edgar has that ''anyone, anytime'' attitude, so he took a fight against Jeremy Stephens who was 2-3 in his last five. To Stephens' credit it was a very good back and forth fight, he even managed to score a knockdown in the 2nd round. By the end of the fight it was clear that Edgar had done enough to get his hand raised, but did the UFC brass start to think this was the beginning of the end for Edgar? His next booking seemed pretty predatory to me. Shades of Till vs Cerrone (obviously Cerrone was never even half as good as Frankie but you get my point) where a young, up and coming blue chipper is stuck in there with a wily veteran to further his stock. Yair vs Edgar. UFC 211. Yair Rodriguez was the flavour of the month. Length, good power, underrated boxing and a breathtaking kicking game. With Conor away from the sport, Mendes on hiatus, Korean Zombie out with crippling knee injuries and Max and Aldo locked up at the top of the division, it's clear the UFC were searching for a new star. Frankie didn't get the memo because he beat the stuffing out of Yair, who was clearly too green and not properly equipped for Frankie's wrestle heavy attack. The doctor waved the fight off after the 2nd round after Frankie had literally smashed Yair's left eye shut. 

Frankie was the #1 contender again and he was booked to fight new 145lb king Max Holloway at UFC 218. He was forced to pull out less than a month beforehand due to injury and Max went on to fight Aldo instead. Max defended his belt and their fight was re booked for UFC 222, only for Max to pull out due to injury this time. Maybe ill advised in hindsight but Edgar agreed to fight up and comer Brian Ortega at the same event and was stopped for the first time in his career with a vicious uppercut. A quick turnaround saw an unexpectedly competitive rematch against Cub Swanson, a man he'd steamrolled four years earlier. Cub made the necessary adjustments from their first fight, managing to stifle Edgar's wrestling and land a good portion of his own offence. Edgar was still able to get his hand raised but were the cracks beginning to show? 

After spending over a year on the shelf due to injuries, Frankie was given what seemed to be a lifetime achievement reward with a shot against Max Holloway, who was still king at featherweight. Max had just failed in his attempt to become a double champion by taking a loss in an all time great fight against Dustin Poirier, an amazing contest that could easily be the best MMA fight of the 2010s. There was a hesitance in Max, perhaps he was gun shy or maybe Poirier took something from him in that war that they had. His striking had lost some of it's variance, volume and rhythm, his defence wasn't as layered and he was very risk averse. He also almost completely refused to kick. It's a testament to how good Max really is that he was able to coast to a fairly comfortable victory without having to go deep into his toolbox. He did still display some of his usual brilliance, a stiff jab was a constant throughout and he employed a sharp rear uppercut to curtail Frankie on his entries. 

*phew* well We've come full circle now. I feel I've gone on for long enough and if you've made it this far, thank you. I mentioned the Muhnoz fight pretty much off rip. That was Edgar's 135 debut as we all know, but he was actually supposed to debut at bantamweight in January against Cory Sandhagen. He pulled out of that fight to fight Korean Zombie a month earlier than his original schedule and was brutally stopped in the first round. That would have been a terrible way to end an amazing career, that's why I was so happy for him when he was able to get the win over Muhnoz. A great win for an all time great fighter. I have no idea what the future holds for Frankie Edgar, win or lose or draw his next fight or his next five fights, he's a made man and a bonafide all time great. Maybe the next time I do a top 10 p4p list, I'll make room for him. 

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