Frankie Edgar believes he should be No. 1 contender, but: 'That's not how it works'

DALLAS – Frankie Edgar is as familiar with the process of earning a UFC title shot as anyone in company history. If all things were equal, he would likely get one after his dominant win over Yair Rodriguez at UFC 211, but unfortunately it’s not that simple.

Edgar (22-5-1 MMA, 16-5-1 UFC) once again proved why he’s a surefire future UFC Hall of Famer on Saturday when he battered the highly touted Rodriguez (10-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) to a second-round TKO in the pay-per-view bout at American Airlines Center in Dallas. He provided “The Answer” to whether a major prospect was ready for the elite, showing once again that there are few better at 145 pounds.

One person who has proven better than Edgar (twice) is UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo. The Brazilian meets interim champ Max Holloway in a title unification bout at UFC 212 on June 3, and if Aldo (26-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) wins the chances of Edgar getting another title shot in the near future are slim.

If Holloway (17-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) were to emerge victorious, though, that would change the game for Edgar. It would seem natural for him to hope “Blessed” wins, but the New Jersey native said that’s not his style.

“I’m not one to root for either guy,” Edgar told reporters after his UFC 211 win. “Sometimes you want something so bad and it doesn’t happen, so we’ll let them figure that out and cross that bridge when it happens.”

Edgar first lost to Aldo at UFC 156 in February 2013. It was a competitive affair, but “Scarface” defended his title by unanimous decision. The rematch at UFC 200 in July went down in a similar fashion, but with Aldo putting on an even more convincing performance.

In a perfect world, Edgar would fight Aldo as many times as he could – he’s beaten all the other competition placed in front of him. History has proven that’s not how the UFC does business, though, so Edgar is in a curious position once again.

“Of course (a title shot is) what I want,” Edgar said. “I’m the No. 2 guy. One of those guys has got to lose. It makes sense for me to be the guy, but that’s not how it works obviously. But I’ll lobby for it if that’s the case.”

Regardless of what happens, Edgar knows he occupies a high position in his weight class. The fight with Rodriguez was a test of whether he was on the back end of his career and ready to be eclipsed by a next-generation fighter, but that was not the case and Edgar utterly manhandled his opponent until the fight was stopped.

“I felt I had the advantage on the ground,” Edgar said. “I was able to land some big blows from the top. First round I hit him with a good elbow that swelled his eye up and I just kept going after it.”

For complete coverage of UFC 211, check out the UFC Events section of the site.