Frankie Edgar Tells How He Got the Rematch with Benson Henderson

On Tuesday, Frankie Edgar got the news he has been waiting to hear.

Just a couple weeks after losing the UFC lightweight title to Benson Henderson at UFC 144 in Japan in a hotly contested fight, Edgar had his wish granted for a rematch that will go down this summer.

Henderson won the fight across the board by unanimous decision, but that’s not to say there wasn’t some controversy attached to it after several fighters, media outlets and even UFC President Dana White stated they scored the fight for Edgar.

White was in New York City on Tuesday for a press conference for the upcoming UFC on Fox 3 event taking place in New Jersey and he took some time before leaving town to meet with Edgar and his manager, and he gave them the answer they have been waiting for.

“It was a relief, it really was. A weight lifted off my chest, it’s been weighing on me. I definitely made it known that I wanted the rematch, I’m not going to sit there and I don’t want to argue for a title, I want to fight for a title. I’m just happy I get to fight for it now,” Edgar told MMAWeekly Radio on Tuesday evening.

Edgar says that White wasn’t convinced when they first sat down that they should do the rematch because the UFC’s head honcho was still of the belief that his best move was to drop down to 145lbs and challenge for the featherweight title.

Edgar made his case otherwise and White was sold on the rematch.

“Dana he was still concerned and I respect him for that. He thinks 145 might be better for the longevity of my career and my health and what not, and I disagree. Being the competitive person I am, feeling that maybe that fight should have went my way, I want another chance at it,” Edgar said.

“That’s when he said ‘alright man, you’re going to get it.”

Now that the fight is made, Edgar can get back to the business of training and preparing for a second showdown with Henderson later this year. Edgar has excelled at rematches recently defeating both B.J. Penn and Gray Maynard in back-to-back fights, and now he’ll try to create the same kind of magic when he fights Henderson again.

“That’s always the plan to get better between each fight and now that I kind of got to get in there and mix it up with him, we can only build and get better from there. He can too as well so that’s going to be the chess game. I feel like my track record’s pretty good in rematches so I want to keep it going,” Edgar stated.

“I also want to say I want to thank Ben too for taking the rematch, just like you mentioned before with B.J. (Penn), I didn’t have to accept it and I did, and Ben he didn’t have to accept it, and he has, so much respect to him as well.”

Check out the full audio interview with Frankie Edgar below just minutes after getting the news that he would get the rematch with Benson Henderson for the UFC lightweight title:

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