Edgar forced to pull out of title shot vs. ‘Blessed’
Former lightweight champ Frankie ‘The Answer’ Edgar is out of his UFC 218 featherweight title fight against current champ Max Holloway due to a facial injury that’ll require surgery and keep him out of action for three months.
Former lightweight champion and two-time featherweight title challenger Frankie ‘The Answer’ Edgar (22-5-1 MMA, 16-5-1 UFC) has been forced to withdraw from a third shot at the 145-pound belt due to a facial injury sustained in training.
Edgar’s injury will require surgery, but he’s expected to be out only 12 weeks. Edgar was scheduled to face Max ‘Blessed’ Holloway in the Hawaiian’s first title defense since taking the belt from Jose Aldo with a third-round KO at UFC 212 in Rio this past June.
The victory over Aldo extended Holloway’s winning streak to 11 fights. He hasn’t tasted defeat since dropping a unanimous decision to current 155-pound champ Conor McGregor in August of 2013 when Holloway was only 21 years old. Eight of his wins during his current streak have come via finishes.
Holloway has clearly stated that he wants to remain in the headlining slot for UFC 218 in Detroit at Little Caesars Arena on Dec. 2. The promotion is currently looking to find a replacement. Candidates could include former champ Aldo, Cub Swanson, Ricardo Lamas or still-undefeated phenom Brian ‘T-City’ Ortega. Swanson and Ortega are currently scheduled to collide in the UFC Fight Night 123 headliner in Fresno on Dec. 9.
In other UFC news that’s broken in the last 24 hours, former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz has pulled out of his UFC 219 scrap against Jimmie Rivera after breaking his arm earlier this week.
And finally, a number of new fights — some that aren’t even officially booked yet — have been issued odds in the last 48-72 hours. We list quite a few of those below…
GSP -160 vs. Conor McGregor (+130): Whether they would fight at 155 or 170 would be key. If St-Pierre came down to lightweight for the first time in his career, I would think McGregor would have an excellent shot at earning a KO victory. On the flip side, if they competed at welterweight, I would pick GSP to win by using his superior size and wrestling skills.
McGregor -160 vs. Tony Ferguson (+130): This fight is probably going to happen in late December if the UFC and ‘The Notorious’ can come to a financial agreement. I would give Ferguson a shot at knocking off McGregor, and I believe the odds are right where they should be.
Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson (-130) vs. T.J. Dillashaw (-110): Dillashaw said after his win over Cody ‘No Love’ Garbrandt that he wanted to drop down to flyweight and halt Johnson’s streak of 11 consecutive title defenses. This fight has a good chance of happening in early 2018.
Robert Whittaker (-165) vs. GSP (+135): This is the fight that’s suppposed to happen to unify the middleweight belt, but I won’t be shocked if GSP tries to wiggle his way out of it and aim for his old belt at 170 pounds that’s currently held by Tyron Woodley. There’s also the potential option of going down to lightweight and throwing hands with McGregor.
