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Former UFC champion changes weight classes

Submitted by Fred Richani on Wed, 08/22/2012 - 00:22

Ready for one more fight in 2012...

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According to Ariel Helwani of FUEL TV's UFC Tonight, former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar (14-3-1) will drop down to 145lbs and would like one more fight before the end of 2012.

This comes off the heels of Edgar's highly-controversial split decision loss to current champion Benson Henderson on Aug. 11. Henderson took the title from Edgar via unanimous decision back in February in their first encounter, which was also a close fight. 

Considering many observers thought Edgar won his last fight and is an uncrowned champion in some fans' eyes, he takes a big risk in going down to the featherweight division.

His big advantages at lightweight are his speed and not having to cut much weight, if any at all. That all changes with the move to featherweight, but financially, it may pay off as a great decision should he win a fight or two to become the no. one title contender.

Plus, while Edgar didn't take significant damage in his first 14 professional fights, that all changed with two physical bouts with Gray Maynard and in his first matchup with Henderson. Those three fights saw Edgar get rocked, bloodied, and nearly finished on multiple occasions. However, Edgar did a much better job avoiding significant damage in his last fight with Henderson. 

UFC President Dana White has longed for Edgar to drop to 145lbs for the sake of his health, in terms of fighting guys closer to his size, and possibly due to lack of depth in the division, as far as legitimate threats to champ Jose Aldo go. Aldo defends his title against heavy underdog Erik Koch on Oct. 13.

What will be interesting to see is if Edgar finds immediate success at 145lbs, if other lightweight mainstays like Jim Miller and Clay Guida follow his lead.

Fast Facts about Frankie Edgar: