UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar (13-1-1) successfully retained his title with a fourth-round knockout victory over Gray Maynard this evening at UFC 136.
After their draw from January, the UFC scheduled the rubber-match for the summer, but injuries kept both fighters from competing until now. The only loss on Edgar's record was from a 2008 bout with Maynard long before he was considered a lightweight title contender.
Being 0-1-1 against the challenger, Edgar looked to finally get revenge tonight, and he did in exciting and decisive fashion in arguably the most impressive performance of his career.
The bout appeared to be a mirror-image of the second fight with Edgar getting rocked on several occasions throughout the first round. He survived and put on a boxing clinic for the remainder of the fight until he knocked out Maynard with a flurry of punches in the fourth.
At the post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White called Edgar the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. He also said he "doesn't give a s*** what anyone thinks" regarding the statement, which was one of the first comments White made.
Obviously, the No. 1 fighter is UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
With the other champions being Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, Dominick Cruz, Cain Velasquez and Jose Aldo, it's high praise to be considered the second-best fighter in the world, especially considering how dominant some of them are looking at the moment.
White thinks highly of Edgar fighting at a weight class that he has often been labeled too small for. He also referred to Edgar as the Arturo Gatti of MMA because of his ability to take a beating and come back to pull out the victories.
With Edgar taking on much bigger opponents in the most stacked division in MMA, it's hard to argue that he doesn't deserve status as a top pound-for-pound fighter. It's also possible that Edgar can move down to the featherweight division while holding the lightweight title.
With the division being as stacked as it is, Edgar might not get the chance to test his skills in other divisions, but the top fighters from other divisions can move up or down to challenge him.
When asked about what he thinks about the praise, Edgar said it was an "honor" to be considered No. 2 pound-for-pound, but that it was just his opinion.
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