Frankie Edgar eyes title shot with win at UFC Vegas 18, doesn’t rule out legend fights

Frankie Edgar will look to pick up his first back-to-back wins in nearly three years when he faces Cory Sandhagen in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 18 this Saturday (Feb. 6, 2021) in Las Vegas, Nevada. More important, however, he is looking to earn another shot at UFC gold.

“I’m considering it a No. 1 contender’s fight,” Edgar told MMA Fighting. “Any time you can string together a couple of wins over some top competition, doing what I did in my career, that’s always going to put me at the doorstep.”

Winning six of his first seven fights inside the Octagon, Sandhagen has quickly climbed the ranks, and as “The Answer” see it, beating him takes his shine ... and his spot.

“I think Cory, he’s kind of put a nice resume up of himself in this Bantamweight division so I imagine whoever gets the win will be fighting for the title next after [Aljamain Sterling].”

Dropping three of his last five, Edgar is still ranked No. 4 with his last title fight coming in 2019, losing to Max Holloway at UFC 240. While the UFC strap is always the end goal for “The Answer,” he isn’t opposed to taking part in fun fights against fellow legends.

“I’m down for the legend fights, too, but the competitor in me wants to fight the best guys,” Edgar said. “The day that I don’t want to face the best guys, maybe I shouldn’t be fighting. I put my heart and soul into this.

“I live this,” he continued. “My family has to live it at times. I always want to do the best. I always want to be in the fight. Just make sure that I’m always trying to be the best person in the world because that’s always my goal. Ever since I walked in this game, I wanted to fight the best. Fighting the best guys are going to get me where I want to be. Cory’s no different. I think it’s a perfect matchup for him and myself.”

As it stands, Sterling is in line to face Petr Yan at UFC 259 on March 6, 2021. Cody Garbrandt, meanwhile, is ranked No. 3, but he has his eyes on the Flyweight title, which is currently in the hands of Deiveson Figueiredo.

That means it’s highly likely that the winner of Edgar versus Sandhagen could be next in line at 135 pounds.