Frankie Edgar has been considered the top lightweight champion in UFC history. He has beaten the likes of Gray Maynard and MMA icon BJ Penn, but is the former champ playing it too safe in the ring?
Saturday night marked the much anticipated rematch of Ben Henderson vs Frankie Edgar in UFC 150. But what many thought would be a clear win for either fighter turned out to be a controversial decision yet again!
After going at it for five rounds many thought that the former champ Frankie Edgar had the title in the bag. He was able to take down Benson on two separate occasion and landed many significant blows, including the one that hurt Henderson in the second round and left him open to the guillotine. However, the judges would not be phazed by Frankie’s performance!
Judge Tony Weeks gave Edgar Rounds Two, Three, Four and Five; judges Dave Hagen and Mark Van Tine had Henderson taking Rounds One, Three and Four.
Many won’t argue the fact that Benson did in fact take the first round with all those punishing kicks to Frankie’s leg. But Edgar was lighting Henderson up on round two three and four where he got him to the ground, and threatened to finish him whenever he shifted from that front face-lock to a guillotine. Edgar is sure to have taken three rounds hands down.
He stood toe to toe with the champion and even countered him many times, not to mention that he was the only one who scored any takedowns in the fight. One question comes to mind, did Dana have any part in the judges final decision?
After all it was Dana who has been bugging Frankie to cut weight and fight at 145, giving him contender status for Jose Aldo. But why would you want one of your great lightweights to step down from the division? Perhaps Dana wants to open up the weight class to make for more interesting fights? Whatever the reason being now fans have to wonder where does Frankie Edgar go from here?
It has been noted that Nate Diaz will be getting the next shot at the belt. Nate may have some good recent wins, but they are still lack luster and seem to lack champion caliber performance. Besides Nate is never on it, he has good fights and he has bad fight which makes me wonder why he is getting the title shot. If anything I think Frankie should have been given a shot with Nate to see who would win from that match to set up the fight with Benson.
“The Answer” is now stuck in limbo and many know that he is better than all the other contenders but doesn’t get to be a contender himself. Now let say that Frankie does move down to fight Aldo, Aldo would be an exhausted by a bloody pulp by round four and unconscious in round five if Frankie fights the same fight with Aldo as he did with Benson. Let’s not forget this is the same guy who beat BJ Penn twice in a row and then put Gray Maynard away with a knockout to wipe out all questions of who the better fighter of the two was.
Even though Frankie left without the belt, he did leave with the crowd on his side. They chanted “Frankie! Frankie!” as he left the ring all while Benson was being interviewed.
“A lot of people told me I won the fight,” Edgar said at the post-fight press conference. “But it don’t matter. The judges didn’t.”
When the time comes that Frankie fights for the belt once again, he is going to have to be forced to put the Champ away by submission or KO and leave the victory away from the judges. The only thing that is for certain at this time for Frankie is that whether or not he stays in the Lightweight division he will once again have to climb the ladder to get his shot at the title.
Photo Credit: Getty
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