Edgar is NOT beating Jose Aldo at 145lbs. Frankie Edgar dances around, comes in and out with his pitter-patty punches, he almost looks like he's doing the drunken master out there. He has been successful with this style against the wrestlers he has faced, and BJ Penn. Penn is one of the best boxers in MMA, but he is tailor made for Frankie's style. He is flat-footed, one-dimensional in striking and not fleet-footed. Ben Henderson is the 1st multi-dimensional, mobile stand-up fighter we have seen frankie face. Yes Frankie still had some success, but he did not, by any means, win the stand-up fight. He never hurt Ben, didn't out-land Ben and was hit with punches, kicks, elbows and knees throughout the duration of the bout. In the fight with Ben, his striking was made to look limited and ineffective. In comes Jose Aldo. The most explosive, versatile, brutal striker south of middleweight. Does anybody honestly believe Frankie has a chance? And when Aldo catches him, he will finish him. Unlike Maynard. :deal Edgar is right in wanting to stay at LW. When Aldo moves up, then he should move down.
When did MMA become just striking ? Aldo didnt look all that great vs Hominick or Florian and im pretty sure Edgar can expose if Aldo is still having trouble cutting weight. Frankie is the quickest, strongest, most atlethic fighter Aldo has faced to date and with the best wrestling skills. Despite having his own strong wrestling pedigree and probably 15-20 pounds on Edgar, Henderson still lost in the wrestling aspect of that fight. If anyone can put Aldo on his back its Edgar. Nobody but Frankie to my knowledge has put BJ at 155 or Gray Maynard on there back and multiple times at that.
it will be a good fight because frankie has good wrestling, and is good on his feet. Jose aldo has good takedown defense and good on the feet also so i believe it will come down to the question whether frankie will be able to take him down and hold him down. Jose aldo is extremely explosive but his submission game has not been shown regularly so it will be down to whether if jose can work off his back if he gets taken down.
HOw much quicker and athletic is edgar than Faber? Serious question, I honestly am on the fence. He may be a little bigger than Faber, but as far as overall ability, I'm on the fence. Aldo has fought some pretty good wrestlers and was able to neutralize them. I disagree about the Hominick fight, I think Aldo looked great in that fight except for the last round of course....where he did definitely gas. why? I have no idea. The Florian fight was a let down. But the Mendes fight and the Faber fights were incredible. I also disagree that Henderson LOST in the wrestling aspect of the fight. If you judge it solely on useless takedowns, then yeah Edgar won. But consider all of those, or at least most, were due to Frankie's foot speed and movement and Ben being caught off balance (he won't have this advantage over Aldo). Also, if you judge it on effective grappling, Henderson owned him. Remember how the fight ended? Edgar NEVER once had Henderson in that type of danger on the ground throughout the 5 rounds. John Fitch had like over 20lbs on Penn in their fight and look what happened in the first 2 rounds when Penn took it to the ground....he advanced and threatened to end the fight. Edgar did none of that against Henderson. I see mostly a stand up fight here, with Frankie maybe landing a takedown in the second round but not doing much down there, due to Aldo's grappling pedigree and ability to stay out of danger, then the fight will be stopped due to strikes in the 3rd as Aldo finally catches Edgar. Edgar's defense relies heavily on his speed closing the distance and then getting out of danger. He will not enjoy this speed advantage over Aldo. :deal
Frankie may be able to take Aldo down, but I wonder if he'll be able to keep him there. What will it cost for him to get him there? I think Aldo may have what it takes to stop Frankie. Man he has an incredible heart, but the way I see this going is as follows. Frankie does well in rounds 1-2 moving in and striking, getting takedowns but he eats huuuge leg kicks in the process and he fails to keep Aldo down. Aldo continues with leg kicks and Frankie slows down to a crawl by rounds 3-4. He still exchanges with Aldo but because he isn't as mobile he gets buzzed by a big shot and Aldo ends up having what it takes to finish the little guy off before he can recover. For Frankie to win he really needs to neutralize Aldo's agility and speed. He can do this with his own speed but he absolutely needs to check leg kicks and protect his legs which we all know Aldo is going to hunt to slow Frankie down. Next Frankie needs to keep Aldo on the ground and control position without looking like a punk in the process or risk being stood up, he needs to be faster or at least neutralize an Aldo scramble so he doesn't end up on his own back. Frankie really seems to need to adjust his game to Aldo's, rather than Aldo ad******g to him.
It is interesting, will Aldo's leg kicks take their toll on Edgar, or will the TD's drain Aldo's strength in the later rounds Id fancy Aldo by kod tbh, but if it does go the distance, conceivably who even takes the 5th round takes the fight
I agree with everything except for the part where you say Edgar throws pitter-patty punches. He knocked out Maynard, and bothered Penn with his striking in both fights. So he does have some power. Other than that, I don't see Frankie winning the title anytime soon. Of course you can never be sure with this bloke.
