Frankie Edgar, a former lightweight champ will challenge featherweight champion, Max Holloway at UFC 222 is set to take place March 3 at T-Mobile Arena and airs on PPV following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.
If Frankie Edgar manages to score a win over Holloway, he will become the fifth person in UFC history — alongside B.J. Penn, Randy Couture, Conor McGregor and Georges St-Pierre — to hold UFC belt in two different divisions.
On being asked whom he feels would be his toughest opponent in a title fight would be, he pointed to current featherweight champion Max Holloway.
“I’m going to have to say yes, based on what he’s done in his career at this point,” Edgar told Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports (transcript via BJPenn.com). “With him being so young and people want to say I’m being old, so I think this is my toughest test but this is what I want. If you want to be the best, you have to go after the best guys.”
“I do think I have that chip [on my shoulder of being too small]. I think you need to have a chip on your shoulder regardless, but the fact that people tell me I’m too small, or not strong enough, not tall enough and now I’m too old, that’s definitely motivating and I love proving people wrong. If I’m able to do that, that’s a notch on my hat.”
Edgar admits, he needs a gameplan in order to get through Holloway and added his wrestling skills could weigh-in in his performance.
“Everyone says that styles make match-ups. People want to write me off in this fight because he beat [Jose] Aldo twice and I lost to him twice, but MMA math don’t work like that,” Edgar said. “I think it’s going to take an A-level performance [to beat Holloway]. I really don’t see any weaknesses in his game.”
“Obviously, my wrestling background I think is something I’ll try to execute. Everyone knows that. Every fight, I go out there and throw a lot of punches and look for takedowns. It’s going to be no different this time around. We’re going to see. We’re going to see how his wrestling defense really is. He’s fought some wrestlers, but I don’t think he’s fought anyone the level of my wrestling right now.”
Both Edgar and Holloway were originally slated to fight at UFC 218 in Detroit last month. But Edgar had to withdraw from the card due to an orbital bone injury.
Frankie Edgar is 7-2 since losing to featherweight in 2013, with his only losses in that time coming to Jose Aldo.
Max Holloway’s win over Jose Aldo was his 12th consecutive victory, the fifth-longest in UFC history. His last defeat was a decision was against current lightweight champion Conor McGregor back in 2013.
