Edgar next in line to get battered by Penn

Dana White confirmed with MMA Fighting Tuesday that Edgar will receive the next 155-pound title shot against champion BJ Penn. There had been talk of Gray Maynard facing Penn next, but in a video interview shot Tuesday in New York City, White said he didn't think Maynard was 100% ready to fight for the title just yet.

http://www.mmafighting.com/2010/01/12/dana-white-frankie-edgar-not-gray-maynard-to-face-bj-penn-nex/

What a joke. Edgar is two fights from deserving a title shot. This is bullshit. I don't like Maynard but the guy has earned his shot, and beat Edgar with ease.

This won't go more than a round. UFC are putting on weak title matches in the two lower divisions.

After weeks of speculation, ESPN.com has learned that UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn will defend his title against Frankie Edgar.

Sources told ESPN.com that Edgar was offered the title shot Monday night.

Edgar (11-1-0) has won three fights in a row. In his most recent bout, he submitted Matt Veach in the second round at "The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale."

During the victory, Edgar displayed improved stand-up skills. That performance secured the bout with Penn (15-5-1).

"He has a real fast pace," UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta told ESPN.com. "He's got good boxing skills, and he is a real tough guy.

"We think it is the most compelling matchup that can be made right now."

While serious negotiations for Penn-Edgar have yet to begin, no one foresees any difficulty making the fight a reality. Penn recently expressed a desire to defend his 155-pound title April 10 at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi.

Word of Penn-Edgar comes one night after highly touted lightweight contender Gray Maynard improved to 9-0-0 (1 NC) with a win over Nate Diaz at UFC Fight Night 20 in Fairfax, Va.

The chances of Maynard, who has a win over Edgar, being Penn's next opponent evaporated during his struggles with Diaz. Each of Maynard's past six fights has gone the distance and none was an eye-opener.

His two most recent wins, against Diaz and Roger Huerta (at UFC Fight Night 19 in September 2009), were by split decision. Maynard's less-than-stellar victories may have delayed his title shot, but not his standing in the division

"He's right at the top. He's absolutely right at the top," Fertitta said. "He needs a fight or so under his belt; he's done a great job.

"He won a decision against a very tough guy last night. He's right in line."

As for why Edgar got the nod over Maynard, Fertitta got right to the point.

"Like I said, [Maynard] is certainly up there at the top. But right now, we want to put on fights that we feel will sell the best. Right now, we think that's Frankie Edgar, based on the fight that we saw last night."

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Once again proving that in the UFC its not about who's the best fighter, it's about who draws the most money for them.

Edgar deserves a title shot like Lietes "deserved' a title shot against Anderson Silva.

BJ by murder round 3

Anfields5thKing wrote:Once again proving that in the UFC its not about who's the best fighter, it's about who draws the most money for them.

Or, once again proving that the UFC isnt a charity and isnt set up with the only goal of constantly finding out who the best fighter at one point in time is, neither is strikeforce, and neither was pride

The reason top fighters get paid as much as they do, is in part due to the fact they they are in the entertainment business, as well as the fight sport business, Maynard knows wot is required of him (u know, a little more than minimum effort and less dry humping, so its his choice not to go down that route

Edgar deserves the shot he has beat Ex Champ Sherk, The veteran Franca & the very talented undefeated Veach in his last 3 and unlike Gray he has impressed while doing this Gray looked like shit against Diaz and looked meh against Roger Huerta who had only fought twice in 2 years not forgetting both were split decisions the right choice was made Gray is no where ready.

Bulldog67 wrote:

Anfields5thKing wrote:Once again proving that in the UFC its not about who's the best fighter, it's about who draws the most money for them.

Or, once again proving that the UFC isnt a charity and isnt set up with the only goal of constantly finding out who the best fighter at one point in time is, neither is strikeforce, and neither was pride

The reason top fighters get paid as much as they do, is in part due to the fact they they are in the entertainment business, as well as the fight sport business, Maynard knows wot is required of him (u know, a little more than minimum effort and less dry humping, so its his choice not to go down that route

No, they are not in the entertainment business. This is not wrestling.

Strikeforce are focused on putting the best fighters against each other. Hence Hendo gets an immediate title shot. They put their best fighters in title matches.

Which he was denied in the UFC because he might have beaten Silva and isn't a big draw. Same reason the UFC tried to bypass Machida and give Rampage first shot at Evans. Same reason Dana is so adamant about Shogun getting a rematch against Machida. Same reason Hardy is getting a title shot and not Kos. If Hardy sparks GSP at least he's an exciting fighter and he's english so they can milk him. If Kos was to grind out a win, he's not really marketable. Speaking of British, Bitchping is a prime example. He's been handed a place at the top despite not being very good. Henderson and Franklin are two of the best ever, they had to fight so the winner could fight Bisping?? They fought at 205 but the winner had to (Dana's words) "cut to Bispings weight". Why?? Why should he not move to where they wanted to fight?? And the winner was to get a title shot, Dana was clearly hoping it would be Bisping because he had Silva lined up to fight at UFC 105! Bitchping gets KTFO, Hendo has earned his title shot, and gets nothing! If the Cunt had won, you can be fucking certain he'd have gotten his title shot. Not because he's good but because he draws money in the UK. Dana doesn't care if the best fighters hold the titles. He wants the people who are the biggest draws to hold them. That's why Lesnar is champion. Lesnar shouldn't even be getting consideration for a title shot at this stage in his career. He should be working his way up the rankings like Carwin, Cain and JDS. Not being handed the title.

Frankie Edgar does not deserve a title shot. He hasn't beaten anyone in the top 5, his only fight against some1 in the current top 10 he got beaten by a man who didn't even break sweat. Maynard poses the same threat to BJ that Hendo did to Anderson. Hard chin, incredible wrestling, ridiculous strength and the ability to grind out a result. Maynard is the one LW in the UFC that could have put BJ on his back and just kept him there. Edgar is so inferior to BJ in every aspect it's not even funny. This fight will not last a round.

George_Louis_Costanza@who wrote:Edgar deserves the shot he has beat Ex Champ Sherk, The veteran Franca & the very talented undefeated Veach in his last 3 and unlike Gray he has impressed while doing this Gray looked like shit against Diaz and looked meh against Roger Huerta who had only fought twice in 2 years not forgetting both were split decisions the right choice was made Gray is no where ready.

Can't agree at all.

Sherk was post roids and gave the worst performance of his career, had been nearly killed by Penn and had struggled against Griffin. He was borderline top 10 at the time. Had Sherk done what he normally does and used his wrestling he'd have walked to a UD.

Franca was also post roids, and hadn't fought in a year since Sherk beat the piss out of him. He's never been a great fighter anyway.

Veach isn't even top 20 at LW! His only big win was against the might Matt Grice who has lost to every half decent fighter he's ever faced.

Maynard beat Edgar with incredible ease. He's beaten Siver and Clementi who are both very solid fighters. He beat Huerta, i thought he beat him pretty clearly. it went down as a SD but 2 of the judges gave it to him 30-27. Huerta is potentially a top 10 guy. His previous fight against Florian was the toughest of Kenny's undefeated run. And if Huerta hadn't been so determined, and possibly stupid, Maynard would have won by submission because anyone else would have tapped to that kimura.

Maynard-Diaz is one of those SD that really shouldn't have been. Maynard won every round. Diaz is a tough fight for anyone because of his length, reach and excellent BJJ. Maynard handled him and never looked in any trouble. Maynard had, according to a lot of reports, been told that if he beat Diaz he'd get his shot. So he was cautious and didn't take risks. Then he got passed over.

Maynard is a fighter i don't like. Don't like his style at all. But he has earned his title shot over Edgar. Clearly the more deserving of the two. Not that either of them really should be getting a title fight. Gray is ranked 7 or 8 and Edgar IMO isn't top 10. But BJ has pretty much cleared the division and most of the top LW's aren't in the UFC.

Its not really an argument, Maynard ofcoarse deserves the title shot. I don't quite understand your view on him Anfield, I know you don't like him but at one point I though you were actually saying he was a threat comparing him to Dan Henderson. Im actually glad Maynard didn't get a shot because now he has more time to improve and prepare, Id like to see him against Sanchez now.

I agree with pretty much everything you have said though, Sherk put in the worse performance of his career trying to stand up, Franca is a decent fighter, never great. After beating Aurelio he got KOed by Tyson Griffin and an unknown. Veach is a good fighter and was easily winning up to the point where he got caught but right now he isn't top 25.

Edgar's game is wrestling and I doubt he is in the top 5 wrestlers of the division. Right on the top you have Maynard, Crusher and Sherk (when he uses it) then you have guys like JZ, Sanchez, Veach, Daddy and possibly a few others who have better wrestling. There is almost no way that Edgar is going to take BJ down, and on the feet he is going to get destroyed.

I just don't like watching Maynard fight because he can be boring. But i think he is a good fighter and his strengths are such that he could beat anyone on any given day, in the same way Hendo can beat anyone, remember, Hendo was the first man to beat Big Nog. Maynard's more like Matt Hughes than Hendo. Doesn't have Hendo's power.

Thats a good comparison, I like it. I know what you mean about being boring, I think if he added finishing to his ability he could be a really good fighter but either way he is much more of a threat to BJ than Edgar.

I am a Frankie Edgar fan.
He is an exciting and talented guy with a good streak of wins.

Maynard (other than the ones not currently contracted to the UFC) is the one who should be fighting BJ Penn.

He soundly beat Edgar, and his 2 split decision victories against Huerta and Diaz,(as much as i was cheering for the other guy) should have been UDs.

I agree with Anfield thouhg, UFC are not in the entertainment business, they are in the sports business!!
You think the premier league doesnt want to make money?
you think they wouldnt rather have Newcastle, Leeds and Forrest in there than Wigan, Stoke and Hull?
obviously those clubs have bigger fan bases so they would bring in more money but its a sporting organisation and playing fair is important in sports believe it or not.

comparing Maynard to Hughes is harsh on Hughes.
Matt has 14 KOs, 19 subs and 11 decisions.
Gray has 2 KOs, 0 subs and 7 decisions.

They need Aoki big time man

manschesthair_utd wrote:I am a Frankie Edgar fan.
He is an exciting and talented guy with a good streak of wins.

Maynard (other than the ones not currently contracted to the UFC) is the one who should be fighting BJ Penn.

He soundly beat Edgar, and his 2 split decision victories against Huerta and Diaz,(as much as i was cheering for the other guy) should have been UDs.

I agree with Anfield thouhg, UFC are not in the entertainment business, they are in the sports business!!
You think the premier league doesnt want to make money?
you think they wouldnt rather have Newcastle, Leeds and Forrest in there than Wigan, Stoke and Hull?
obviously those clubs have bigger fan bases so they would bring in more money but its a sporting organisation and playing fair is important in sports believe it or not.

comparing Maynard to Hughes is harsh on Hughes.
Matt has 14 KOs, 19 subs and 11 decisions.
Gray has 2 KOs, 0 subs and 7 decisions.

I just meant in terms of having average hands but a huge size, power and wrestling advantage over the rest of his weight class. All of Hughes's Ko wins other than the slam versus Newton are actually TKO's from GnP. If Maynard can work on his GnP as well as his submission then he has the base to become a dominant fighter like Hughes. He also needs Penn to leave if he wants to become a champion.

Maynard is the most deserving of the next shot without a doubt,but after watching him the other night,I think it would be a horrible match-up for us fans watching and for Maynard at the moment,not taking a shot a BJ now might turn out to be the best thing for him.Maynard has the power and abillity but he still has so many big holes in his game that he needs to work on,one or two fights might just be what he needs to work on these.He still should get a shot eventually.

I'm leaning towards,which fight will be the most entertaining to watch at the moment.I think a faster paced fight with Edgar would be more entertaining to watch.

I think this fight could also have something to do with the UFC bringing in their own Featherweight division.I can see Edgar being built up for this fight,He will obviously lose to BJ but losing to BJ in a LW title fight,no matter how you do,will raise his stock for competing at Featherweight.
I see him going straight in as one half of the first UFC Featherweight title fight.










Or I've smoked to much and let my imagination go off on one,either way I'm happy

As things stand I can't see anyone in the UFC's lightweight division challenging BJ. I thought Florian was going to be the man to test Penn, however BJ dealt with him comfortably. I doubt either Edgar or Maynard can trouble the champ. Maynard deserves the title shot more than Edgar does, however Edgar v Penn will probably make for a more exciting fight (can't see it lasting more than a round or two though).

As Anfield says if Maynard can add some ground and pound or submission skills to his wrestling base then he could maybe be a more realistic threat. As such, it might be in his best interests to have a couple more fights before challenging for the belt.

see a highlight ko from penn in the first here

BJ to win by very quick knockout in the first. I would bet all my money on that.

Penn's the champ for as long as he wants, so I think they should just declare him the lifelong LW champ, and replace his pointless defences with a thrice-yearly 25min segment called 'An audience with BJ', in which he pulls up a stool in the octagon and discusses his favourite subjects like going to the death, grease and Hawaii. The audience could ask him questions, and if he gets an awkward one he can get his mum to answer for him.

Hahaha! That's brilliant!

He could also talk about how he openly accused people of taking steroids but didn't mean to offend anyone by that.