Prior to his fight with Marlon Vera on Saturday night, Frankie Edgar quickly brushed aside talk of his possible retirement, but after suffering a third round KO loss it seems the 40-year-old it’s at least now become a possibility.
“Everybody’s going to bring up the f*cking retirement and this and that, and I’m not gonna answer it because I don’t know what it is honestly,” Edgar said on his own ‘Champ And The Tramp podcast. “I just want to know when I do retire, I’m never coming back. I’m not ready for that yet. I’m not ready to make that decision yet.
“But this is probably the first time after a fight where I’m not thinking about my next fight. I’m not thinking about getting back in the gym. I know I’m never gonna stop training no matter what I decide, and I will be back in the gym soon just because I’m addicted to that. But I’m not thinking of it, and this is the first time probably in my fight career that that’s happened.”
However, the former lightweight champion is well aware that results haven’t been going his way of late, having now been finished by strikes four times in recent years, including his latest back-to-back KO’s, and it’s not something that sits well with him.
“I know I’ve got a lot left to give this sport in many ways. Like, my spirit doesn’t want to be done, that’s for sure. I feel like I can still do this at a high level. I was doing that at a high level two nights ago and got caught with a good shot. But I don’t like being on this end, and it seems like I’m here often as of late.
“So I’m being real about it, but I’m not gonna make a decision. I don’t know if I’ll ever be the guy that goes out and f*cking announces he’s retiring. I don’t know if I could do that. I don’t know if I’ll be the guy a year from now that’s gonna be like, I want to fight. So I’m just not gonna make any f*cking announcement.”
Edgar went on to reveal the toll his long fight career has taken on him, including revealing that he recently underwent a hip replacement.
“I never really made it public, but seven months ago I got my hip replaced. That’s an accomplishment in itself, coming back from that. That’s something I wanted to prove to myself. A lot of people think you get something like that, it’s the end of something and not only did I do it, I f*cking did it quickly. I felt amazing. My hip f*cking felt amazing.”
However, that’s far from his only ailment, and he points to a back issue as being something that he needs to address sooner rather than later.
“I got some nerve issues in my back. I had back surgery when I was 18, so it’s on the other side now. … This was over four years ago.”
“I can’t say it was a mistake (not taking care of his back before), I just f*cking fought. I wrestled in college, I fought for 20 f*cking years, so it did its job. But I need to get that taken care of. Regardless of fighting or not, it’s f*cking with my life.”
Beyond that, Edgar also reflected on his possible legacy in the sport, but it seems that for the time being at least he’s more focused on taking things easy and coming to terms with where he’s at at this twilight stage of his fighting career.
“What is legacy? It’s what other people talk about. I’ve got to be one with myself, I’ve got to be straight up with myself. Like I said, I really don’t know. I’m not thinking about fighting right now. I’m not talking about fighting. That’s not on the horizon at least in the near future right now. I’ve got to make sure I’m 100 percent OK with that when I do make that decision.”
