Frankie Edgar Still Planning Drop to Bantamweight, Has One Fight Left on UFC Deal

Frankie Edgar postponed his planned move to bantamweight to take a short-notice fight against Chan Sung Jung at UFC Fight Night 165 on Dec. 21.

The decision backfired, as Edgar was finished by technical knockout just 3:18 into the opening frame of the evening’s headliner in Busan, South Korea. The brutal nature of the loss also nixed any thought of Edgar making his bantamweight debut against Cory Sandhagen, which had previously been scheduled for UFC Raleigh on Jan. 26.

Edgar admittedly struggled with his most recent setback.

“Obviously, the fight with ‘Korean Zombie,’ I felt like I never got a chance to get going,” Edgar said on the "JRE MMA Show." “He got me with a good shot. I was really down on myself. That was a tough one. I was really down on myself for awhile. Nobody takes losses well — no one competitive. I definitely took it pretty bad. Christmas was right here. In my head, I took the fight on short notice. But I never once took a fight and didn’t think I was going to win — two weeks’ notice. I was in shape. I was training – not like I was training for a fight, but I was training pretty good. I believe in myself.

“I thought I was going to go in there, put this dude away, come home and enjoy Christmas. It turned out to be the opposite. It was a little depressing during Christmastime. You try to be nice and loving with your family, but what’s weighing over my head is I just got f—-ing TKO’d.”

Edgar still plans on making his bantamweight debut later this year, and he expects that the weight cut will go relatively smooth.

“I’m going to go down to 135,” Edgar said. “I’m probably like 156 right now. … My last fight, I was getting down to 145. I got down to 144.5. That’s only 8.5 over where I’ve got to be to make 136. It was such an easy cut for this last time. … I think late spring or early summer, [I’ll be back] at 135.”

Edgar began his UFC career at lightweight, where he captured a championship despite being relatively undersized. He fought for titles on a couple occasions at 145 pounds as well but was unable to capture UFC gold. He believes the size discrepancy will be much less in a new division.

”I don’t think I’ll be the biggest guy at 135, but I’ll definitely be much more comparable to the rest of them,” he said.

When Edgar does make his return, he will be on the last fight of his UFC contract. He wants to remain with the organization that has been his home since 2007, but of course, a potential new deal has to make sense.

“Money talks,” Edgar said. “But I mean, honestly, if I was being straight up, where would I want to finish my career? I do want to finish in the UFC. I got in the UFC at 5-0. I pretty much grew up here. It’d be nice to finish it here, but everything has to make sense.”