Looks like dropping down to 145 pounds wasn't "The Answer."
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight kingpin Frankie Edgar made his featherweight debut last night (Feb. 2, 2013) against Jose Aldo in the main event of UFC 156: "Aldo vs. Edgar," which emanated from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Aldo retained his title by way of unanimous decision (watch it here).
The champion was dominant early, but faded as the fight wore on. That allowed Edgar, who made his mark in mixed martial arts (MMA) through a combination of grit, determination and an otherworldly gas tank, to score points and win the last two rounds.
His late surge made it a close fight, but not close enough to warrant a rematch.
To compound the problem, there are already a handful of fighters at 145 pounds looking to get their crack at the crown, including Chan Sung Jung, Ricardo Lamas and the winner of Cub Swanson vs. Dustin Poirier, who lock horns a week from Saturday night (Feb. 16, 2013) in London, England.
And returning to lightweight would be fruitless.
Edgar already suffered consecutive defeats to the man who took his title, Ben Henderson, and a controversial outcome in their rematch at UFC 150 is not enough to market a trilogy, unless "Smooth" is handily defeated by Strikeforce import Gilbert Melendez at UFC on FOX 7.
Anything is possible, I suppose.
That includes a drop to bantamweight, a place Edgar's head trainer claims could be a potential fit becuase "The Answer" walks around at the same weight as Dominick Cruz and Renan Pegado, who not only compete at 135 pounds, but also share a title.
Heck, if Kenny Florian can drop three weight classes, so can Frankie, who said his featherweight cut was "easy." And outside of this month's bantamweight brawl between Michael McDonald and the aforementioned "Barao," there's not exactly a long line of contenders banging down the championship door.
How about Frankie Edgar vs. Urijah Faber?
"The California Kid" knows a thing or two about coming up short in multiple weight classes -- as well as getting outworked by Aldo. I think the real challenge would be convincing Edgar to head south yet again, and risk the potential of getting turned away in three different divisions.
But it sure beats being stuck in limbo.
How about it fight fans, where do you think Frankie should go from here? And against who? Refresh your memory on all the action from last night in our UFC 156 results and live blog here.
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