Former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar will be staying at 155, at least for one more fight. Frankie Edgar broke the news on Twitter that he has signed to fight Ben Henderson in a rematch of their UFC 144 bout. “Rematch anyone??…….it’s on!!”
An excited Edgar broke the news late on Tuesday night, later confirmed by the UFC president with a retweet.
“Rematch anyone??…….it’s on!! Thanks to @danawhite @lorenzofertitta. Me and Henderson 2. Here we go!!” – @FrankieEdgar
[adinserter block=”2″]Dana White confirmed the news on Tuesday night. The news comes a little over a week that saw the UFC president try and pressure the former champion to move down a weight class and fight Jose Aldo. After going back and forth in media interviews as to who would fight next for the UFC lightweight title, White is giving fans the rematch most have been asking for.
“Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson rematch will be this summer” – @DanaWhite
This now makes the third time the championship has been defended in dual fights in the UFC lightweight division, going back to Edgar’s series against BJ Penn. I am no MMA historian but I am guessing that has to be a first in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
I am excited about the news. As I wrote in a lengthy blog on Monday, Edgar deserved the rematch. The calls for Frankie to move down in weight were baseless in my opinion. As I said Monday, Edgar has had several years of success at lightweight. Just because he loses one fight to a guy that looked bigger than him, doesn’t mean he is too small for the division. Ask Sean Sherk, Gray Maynard, and BJ Penn about having a size advantage over Edgar.
The championship fight now adds to the fantastic schedule of upcoming UFC championship fights. In addition to the lightweight title fight, Jon Jones will defend his UFC light heavyweight title against Rashad Evans, Dominick Cruz defends his UFC title against Urijah Faber, Junior Dos Santos defends his UFC title against Alistair Overeem, and Chael Sonnen will challenge Anderson Silva for the UFC middleweight title. That is a very impressive docket of upcoming championship fights if you ask me.
[adinserter block=”1″]Anthony Pettis will be the big loser in this equation. Pettis was in line to challenge the Henderson vs. Edgar winner after demolishing Joe Lauzon at UFC 144. Pettis will now have to wait. This is the second time Pettis’ promised title shot was put on hold since joining the UFC. I would guess that Pettis would have to fight again while waiting if Edgar and Henderson aren’t fighting until summer. Then again, Carlos Condit seems to content to wait Georges St-Pierre out until November.
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The rematch is bullsh*t. I hope the rest of the card is stacked, or this will be the 1st UFC I miss in quite a few years. The better man won the 1st fight, Edgar was only effective with a few takedowns and Henderson got up immediately. Henderson scored the most shots, landed the harder shots, controlled the octagon, and was close to ending the fight twice.
Now what happens if they fight again, and Frankie wins a close contested, maybe controversial decision? Then they will have to fight again. I think this immediate rematch stuff is crap. If you lose, suck it up and take it as a loss. Outside of a draw, there should be no immediate rematches, unless there simply is not a clear number one challenger in waiting.
Pettis isn't a loser in this, because he shouldn't have been considered the #1 contender anyway. He was the guy, then fought and LOST to Clay Guida. Yes, he has since bounced back with a lackluster win and then the ko of Lauzon. But other guys need 4-5 sometimes even longer winning streaks to get a shot.
That sucks what about pettis, the fight wasn't that close. Edgar try to win by points while taking more of the damage, pettis should get the fight poor kid is going to have to do another loop in a stacked division enough with the rematches.