It’s hard to believe, but it’s been nearly a year since we last saw Frank Edgar inside the Octagon. And if he has it his way, we’re going to see a new and improved fighter at UFC 98. We’ll call it Frankie 2.0.

Tracing Edgar’s UFC career, you might not think this guy needs to change things up. He’s got a winning formula: he’s a four-time national-qualifying collegiate wrestler with great standup and a lot of flexibility (just ask Tyson Griffin).

It was enough to amass an undefeated record (5-0, including a win over Jim Miller) to earn a berth into the world’s top MMA organization, where he went on to secure hard-fought victories over Griffin, Mark Bocek and Spencer Fisher. In the process, he began redefining the "decision victory," shattering the myth that fights that go to the judges’ scorecards are somehow boring and picking up a "Fight of the Night" award in the process.

In April 2008, Edgar faced Gray Maynard in perhaps his only fight we’ve seen that wasn’t a complete barn-burner. Maynard used his size and strength to keep Edgar on the ground for most of the fight, eking out the unanimous decision victory and securing himself a spot near the front of the UFC’s lightweight pack.

The good new is it didn’t take long for Edgar to bounce back.

Just three months later, Edgar bettered former number one contender Hermes Franca to earn his second "Fight of the Night" honors. He was supposed to follow that up with a December 2008 bout against Matt Wiman, who was on a hot streak of his own, at UFC: "Fight for the Troops."

The fight was not to be. A week and a half before, Edgar blew out his knee in training and was forced to withdraw. Miller took his place, out-wrestled the explosive Wiman, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Which brings us to today and, certainly, Edgar’s biggest challenge to date: former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk. The "Muscle Shark’s" body looks like a He-Man action figure ... only six or seven inches taller. If "The Answer" had trouble countering Maynard’s size and strength, how will he adjust to Sherk?

That’s what we intend to find out, come Saturday, May 23 at UFC 98: "Evans vs. Machida," when Edgar (9-1) takes on Sherk (33-3-1). It’s part of the main card lineup for the pay-per-view (PPV) broadcast, airing live at 10:00 p.m. ET from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

We recently caught up with Edgar, who for the past year has trained at the Ricardo Almeida Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Hamilton, N.J., while continuing to serve as an assistant coach to the Rutgers University wrestling team. We talked about the challenges of putting on weight, his fights with Maynard, Franca and Griffin, and what we have to look forward to, come May 23.

He assured us to be ready ... because you just might see an all-new Frankie Edgar:

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): You last fought Hermes Franca to a unanimous decision victory. Considering Franca is a former number one contender, how big was that win for you?

Frank Edgar: Yeah, that was definitely a huge win for me, especially since I was coming off a loss. I was just happy that the UFC gave me the opportunity to fight a tough guy like Hermes. Like you say, he’s a former number one contender, so I felt that could definitely put me right back in the picture. And I think it did, obviously, getting this opportunity to fight Sherk. So yeah, that was definitely huge.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): You haven’t fought since July due to a knee injury ...

Frank Edgar: Yeah, I was supposed to fight in December, but I hurt my knee, so I had to pull out of that one.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): How’s the knee doing now?

Frank Edgar: Now it’s all good, I’m ready to go. One hundred percent.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): You’re just, what, 27 years old but already have 10 fights under your belt against some top, top lightweight competitors — guys like Tyson Griffin, Spencer Fisher, Jim Miller, Gray Maynard and most recently against Hermes Franca. Which fight was your favorite and why?

Frank Edgar: I’d say my fight with Jim and Tyson were my toughest fights. I mean, obviously, I lost against Gray, but I didn’t get beat up too much in that fight. But with Tyson and Jim, they were tough, tough fights.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): You train with Ricardo Almeida out of Hamilton, New Jersey. How long have you trained jiu-jitsu, and how would you compare your focus on your ground game with that of your standup?

Frank Edgar: I’ve been training jiu-jitsu as soon as I got in the game, but I’ve been with Ricardo for the past year, so that just elevated it ten-fold, being with someone at that level. I try and do everything as evenly as possible. Some things slack as you go, but I try to balance it out as best I can between all three different disciplines.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): You next face Sean Sherk at UFC 98. Have you changed up anything in your routine to help you prepare for this fight? Have you brought in any new training partners or coaches?

Frank Edgar: Not so much. I’m definitely working my wrestling with my wrestlers up at Rutgers University. Sean has a strong wrestling base. I’ve been working my boxing, sparring with good guys, and my jiu-jitsu, because there’s a good chance I could end up on my back. So I’m trying to prepare for all different situations and scenarios.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): In his last few fights, Sherk has talked about how he’s been working on his boxing. He always points that out. Do you think he’ll try and stand with you, or do you think he’ll be forced to go back to his bread and butter and try to take you down?

Frank Edgar: I think Sherk’s a well-rounded fighter. I think he’s going to do it all. I think he will try for the takedown if it’s there, and I think he’s willing to throw some leather. So it’s going to make for an interesting fight.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): In your lone loss to Gray Maynard, he seemed to use his size and strength well to his advantage by holding you down and preventing you from exercising your game plan. Given that Sherk is one of the bigger lightweights, what lessons have you learned from the Maynard fight? How do you plan to counter his shear size and strength? Is it about maintaining distance?

Frank Edgar: I think my jiu-jitsu is definitely better off my back, so that’s going to help me in the event that I do get taken down. I’ve put on some size since the Maynard fight. I was a little small for the weight at the time. I feel that I’ve been chipping away at that as best I can.

Putting on weight is not as easy as people think, especially if you’re doing it while training as hard as we train in order to get in shape for fights. But I’ve been putting some size and strength on, so I’m sure that’ll come into play a little bit.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): What do you weigh about?

Frank Edgar: I’m like a little over ‘65 right now,* being that I’m really in pretty good shape, the metabolism is kicking in. When you train two or three times a day, it’s tough to keep that weight on. *(NOTE: This interview was conducted on Tuesday night, May 12.)

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Both you and Sherk have faced a couple of common opponents, including Franca and Griffin. Both fights were unanimous decisions in your favor, as they were for Sherk. When it comes to game planning, how much of a role do those fights play?

Frank Edgar: In my mind, the Tyson fight is hard to compare with Sherk’s Tyson fight, because for both me and Tyson it was pretty early in our careers. I think we both improved a lot since then. I think we’re different fighters now than we were then.

The Hermes fight, both me and Sherk pretty much did the same exact thing to Hermes. So that just shows how evenly matched and how similar fighters we both are.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): I gotta say your fight against Tyson Griffin is one of my all-time favorite fights.

Frank Edgar: (Laughs.) Thanks.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): He had you in that knee bar at the end of the third. Were you close to tapping from that?

Frank Edgar: No. I mean it hurt. Some people may have tapped. My knee definitely popped. It was a pretty tight knee bar. I saw on the screen how much time was left, so in my head I just said, "Let’s just go and ride it out. It is what it is at this point."

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): I was at home tapping on the couch.

Frank Edgar: (Laughs.)

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Do you think the injury — the fact that you haven’t fought in almost a year — do you think there’s going to be any rust there?

Frank Edgar: No, I don’t think so, because I trained for that fight I was supposed to fight in December. I hurt myself pretty much a week and a half before the fight. So I had a whole training camp up until that fight. So it was almost like I trained for a fight, I just didn’t get that end product.

I just think it’s going to actually give me the opportunity to be a totally different fighter than I was when I fought a year ago. It’s tough to see a difference in fighters when they fight so often, but with some time off, hopefully people will see a big change in my style.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Who do you like in the upcoming lightweight title fight between BJ Penn and Kenny Florian?

Frank Edgar: Yeah, I don’t know, that’s going to be a tough one. I’m definitely interested to see how Penn bounces back from that loss to St. Pierre. I know Florian is very tactical and strategic, so I’m interested to see his game plan in that fight. I’m a fan just like everyone else, so I’m wondering myself.

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Hey, Frank, thanks for taking the time to talk with us. I wanted to give you a chance to thank any sponsors or if you have any parting words for your fans?

Frank Edgar: I just want to thank my teammates, Ricardo Almeida and my boxing coach, Mark Henry, and all my training partners. And to my fans, thanks for the support and tune in May 23.