According to Dana White, Frankie Edgar will get the next shot at the featherweight title after his first round knockout of Chad Mendes last night in the main event of the TUF 22 Finale.
“When Frankie came downstairs I said, ‘Nobody can deny you now. Not me, not nobody,’” White said at the post-fight press conference. “Everybody believes they’re ready for the title shot and they deserve it, and Frankie’s one of those guys. …Frankie really, really solidified himself tonight as the guy.
“Nobody can deny Frankie anymore. He looked amazing tonight, and he’ll get whatever he wants. He put the stamp on it tonight. I bet he has people buzzing right now. People are interested. People want it.”
Edgar had been feeling put out that he’d been getting overlooked up until this point despite having strung together an impressive run of victories at 145lbs, but he couldn’t wipe the smile of his face last night after his title shot confirmation, and the icing on the cake was the manner in which he finished the fight with Mendes.
“I had some criticism early on about, ‘I’m not a finisher’ – I got three finishes in the last five fights over some of the best guys in the world,” Edgar said. “I can’t be happier.”
White confirmed that Edgar will be cageside tonight at the blockbuster UFC 194 event to see who he will be facing next as Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor collide to see who will unify the featherweight title.
After the elation of his victory, in the cold light of day Edgar would have every right to be a little anxious about the outcome as if it turns out to be an extremely close fight then it would not be the first time that White changes his mind and decides to book an immediate rematch instead.
