Future UFC Hall of Famer, Frankie Edgar, recently suffered a brutal KO loss to Cory Sandhagen. The knockout came by way of a flying knee, leaving ‘The Answer’ out cold. It was Edgar’s first loss at bantamweight, with the former lightweight having moved down to 135lbs in 2020.
An initial win over Pedro Munhoz initially gave the impression that he may well have another title run in him. This led to Edgar being matched up with his fellow bantamweight contender, Sanghagen. Sandhagen was coming off a spectacular wheel kick (T)KO victory over Marlon Moraes, and has now only further enhanced his highlight reel.
Frankie Edgar On Having To Deal With Such A Loss
Edgar has since recorded an interview with ESPN MMA, giving fans some insight into what it is like to be on the receiving side of such a KO. Speaking with Brett Okamoto, Edgar had the following to say in regards to his first-round loss;
“We only fight a couple of times a year, and we hang everything on that fight. And when it doesn’t go well, your sitting on that loss for a long time. Knowing that what I have to deal with till I get back in there is tough, it’s tough mentally.”
Edgar has been a staple of the UFC roster since 2007 and has a multitude of spectacular victories as well as devastating losses on his record. He went on to reveal the sort of impact any loss had on his mentality as a fighter.
“Only thing that gets rid of a loss is a win, for me at least. It gets better with time obviously, it doesn’t affect the person I am, but it hangs with me man. It always has.”
In regards to that physical effects of such a KO, Edgar stated that:
“I don’t remember it really. I don’t remember walking out the cage of my own accord. I was forgetting some stuff in the back. It all came to, probably ten, fifteen minutes later. Like I said, this is an unforgiving sport and it sucks. I’m gonna be on this guys highlight reel forever and that’s just gonna play forever but it’s what it’s you know.”
Edgar also describes the aftermath and that he really didn’t remember anything until he reached to the hospital.
“I didn’t really come to until I was in the back. That is the first thing I remember. I’m sitting around the doctors going through that whole process with them, Mark and Ricardo are next to me and I’m like, ‘Mark, what happened?’ He’s like ‘you fought,’ and I kind of figured that you know. But, I couldn’t remember who the f*ck I fought. I’m like ‘who did I fight?’ He’s like ‘Cory Sandhagen.’ I’m trying to remember training for the guy and I couldn’t remember training for him. Since when was I supposed to fight him? I thought maybe I just took this fight on short notice or something. He’s like ‘bro, two months. You have been training for this guy for two months.’
“Man, I just couldn’t wrap it around my head. The doctor asked me what day it was and for the life of me, I could not remember. I was like, ‘September, December.’ you know and That’s when we’re gonna get a cat scan,” Frankie said. “Alright, whatever, i will go to the hospital, and then on the way to the hospital the nurse in the ambulance said ‘what day of February is?’ I am like boom, ‘it’s the 6th.’ Right away that is when things started snowballing and I started to remember, oh man then i remember like to warmup the first 20 seconds before getting hit with the knee. Everything came back to me but I don’t remember walking out of the cage though.”
Edgar’s future in the UFC remains unknown currently. At the age of 39, he is undoubtedly coming towards the end of his career. However, as his 5 round fight against Munhoz proved, he is still very able to compete with the top 10 of his division.
