Frankie Edgar’s coach likes the idea of a move to bantamweight.
Edgar recently suffered the first knockout loss of his professional mixed martial arts career. “The Answer” was set to challenge Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight title holder Max Holloway at UFC 222. That didn’t happen as Holloway went down with an injury. Instead, Brian Ortega replaced him and finished Edgar in the first round.
The size difference was clear. Ortega towered over Edgar, who has been undersized as a lightweight and featherweight. This has revived the discussion of Edgar possibly moving down to the bantamweight division.
‘The Answer’ Is 135?
Speaking to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, coach Mark Henry said that the idea of Edgar moving to 135 pounds is intriguing:
“I’ll tell you one thing: I would love to see Frankie fight at 135. Every time Frankie has fought somebody his own size, he’s done very well. I re-watched the fight for the first time this weekend, and all these people had tweeted about how much bigger Brian looked. I watched it and said, ‘Holy cow, he was a lot bigger.’ It’s tough when you’re giving up size, height and range. Frankie got caught as he overstepped. He paid the price, but that’s what you have to do to compensate for that range. You have to come hard.”
In the past, Edgar has made it clear that another change in weight class would have to be worth his while. Henry believes that his fighter would need a crack at gold in order to make that happen.
“Honestly, I don’t think he’ll move down unless it’s for a title. I think for him, it’s a toughness thing. I’m guessing he looks at it as moving down looks like a weakness. Well, that’s his weight. If Frankie is 15 pounds less than someone on fight night, that’s three weight classes in boxing. That’s a lot.”
Do you like the idea of Frankie Edgar moving down to bantamweight? Let us know in the comments below.
