After a disappointing outcome in his third bid to claim gold at featherweight, Frankie Edgar reflected on what went wrong, and reiterated he’s not going anywhere.
Edmonton, AB — Whether or not UFC 240 turns out to be Frankie Edgar’s final chance to reclaim UFC gold, one thing is certain: he took his loss to Max Holloway like a champ. The five round title fight atop the card in Edmonton went the distance Saturday, with Holloway picking up the unanimous decision.
The fight left Edgar looking for answers, in particular about scoring, with one judge giving all five rounds to the Hawaiian champion. The remaining to judges scored the fight 49–46 and 48–47.
“Thought I won a couple [rounds]. It’s tough to really say when you’re in there,” Edgar said after the fight, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press at the UFC 240 post-fight press conference. “I guess I’ve got to watch the fight. My team thought I won a couple too, but it doesn’t matter, it wasn’t enough.”
Putting feeling into words, Edgar said “I’m heartbroken man. It’s tough when you want something that bad, and you can’t get it.”
At 37, retirement tire will no doubt spark up around Edgar. The former lightweight champion, however, said he’s not going anywhere yet. That reiterated the message he sent in the octagon post-fight, saying he had “plenty of fight left.” The message was not necessarily directed at anyone, mind you. “I don’t really care what anyone thinks. I guess that was for myself.”
Edgar, who says he’s not really thinking about bantamweight right now, summed up the the loss by saying “I’m pissed off. A little disappointed. But proud of my performance. I’m just disappointed in letting my team down. I know they’re proud of me, but you want to deliver a victory to them, because they sacrificed so much as well.”
Asked what he’d say to his son, who was in attendance Saturday, Edgar had the following advice: “You’re going to lose in life. Can’t let it keep you down, you know? I’ve lost before. It is what it is. Never held me back.”
