Frankie Edgar’s MMA career will soon come to an end.
After nearly 20 years of competitive fighting, the former UFC lightweight champion and featherweight championship contender is hanging up the gloves.
On the main card of UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden Arena on Saturday, Edgar (24-10-1 MMA, 18-10-1 UFC) will make his final stand. He engages in a bantamweight match against Chris Gutierrez (18-3-2 MMA, 6-1-1 UFC).
Edgar claims he is finished with MMA and, most likely, all combat sports. He does, however, leave the door open for a significant offer in the world of boxing.
“This is my last UFC fight, MMA fight for sure,” Edgar told MMA Junkie at the UFC 281 media day on Wednesday. “I’m most likely, 100 percent, it’s my last fight. But if there’s some boxing, maybe (Manny) Pacquiao wants to do an exhibition – I know he’s doing exhibitions now. I can be open to something crazy like that, but it would really, really have to be a good one.”
The 41-year-old fighter has accomplished a lot during his MMA career. Later in his career, he moved down to bantamweight and then featherweight. He was one of the top title contenders in both categories.
But his finest work was done when he defeated B.J. Penn to win the UFC lightweight championship and successfully defended it three times in the early 2010s. The moment when Edgar defeated Penn to win the title at UFC 118 in 2010 is still his favorite one.
“If I had to pick one, it’s winning the title against B.J. Penn. I’ve been in athletics since I was 10 years old, always trying to be the best at that and I