Frankie Edgar finally made the drop down to 145-pounds for tonight's (Sat., Feb. 2, 2013) UFC 156 event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, to challenge Jose Aldo for his featherweight championship.
The bout was billed as a super-fight but could it live up to those expectations?
You bet cha.
Not unlike Edgar's classic wars with Gray Maynard and Ben Henderson, "The Answer" went toe-to-toe with "Scarface" for five full rounds and after 25-minutes of insane back-and-forth action that no one could seemingly agree on how to score, the three ringside judges managed to reach a unanimous decision.
Aldo was awarded the victory with scores of 49-46, 49-46, and 48-47.
It was Aldo's fight early, as he landed some brutal leg kicks with the intent of taking Frankie's legs out from underneath him. It worked too, at least at first, but eventually the New Jersey native used takedowns and the threat of them to scratch and claw his way back into the fight.
The see-saw was in full effect and scores on social media ranged from a split win for Edgar to a solid win for Aldo to a draw. In the end, Edgar came up short once again.
Now that he's lost in consecutive title fights in two separate weight classes, what's the plan?
"Close fight, I keep finding myself in these situations. Congratulations to Jose Aldo. ... I'm just going to go home and take some time, that's all."
After battling back from early adversity and still managing to come up just short, one can't blame him for wanting to take some down time to figure out what's next.
Anyone feel like starting the "Frankie Edgar to bantamweight" movement?
For complete results and blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 156 event click here.