Ask the Torch
ASK THE TORCH: Amadi answers reader questions on Frankie Edgar, Brandon Vera, and Jose Aldo vs. Erik Koch
Aug 17, 2012 - 1:30:13 PM ASK THE TORCH: Amadi answers reader questions on Frankie Edgar, Brandon Vera, and Jose Aldo vs. Erik Koch

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By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist

Cameron writes: I couldn't agree more regarding Frankie screwing himself last [weekend]. Exciting fighter or not, every fighter should be going into the Octagon with the idea of finishing the fight through knockout, submission or, less desirable, but just as effective, a TKO.

Edgar has had this mindset for years of "going the distance" in every fight and has proven it in five of his last six fights. Goldberg and Joe kept talking about how much time he's logged in the Octagon for fights like it was a positive, for crying out loud.

Regardless of whether I'm right in doing this, sometimes I like to use a bar fight context. If this were a real fight happening in a bar or on the street, who would win? The obvious answer is the one who finishes the fight soonest through his skills and brawn. Not the guy who danced around the bar throwing rabbit punches or the guy who stuffed all the takedowns, but the one who best neutralized his opponent fastest.

I'm not saying every MMA event has to finish, I'm just saying every MMA fighter should go into every fight looking to finish and I don't think Frankie does that.

A: If Frankie Edgar could consistently win fights by stuffing takedowns and dancing around, I wouldn't have a problem with that; but he can't. He's proven that he can't over the last two and half years.

The fact is, Edgar has been involved in six UFC Lightweight Title fights, and he's only won half of them. Of those six bouts, four of them ended in controversial decisions.

At this point, I feel like anyone who thinks Frankie Edgar doesn't belong at featherweight or maybe even bantamweight just doesn't know what they're talking about. Edgar took tons of damage in the first fight with Benson Henderson and took even more in the two Gray Maynard fights last year. And again, he only got his hand raised in one of the four fights he had with those guys.

There isn't any champion in the UFC that has as much trouble convincingly winning fights as Frankie Edgar did. Not Junior dos Santos, not Jon Jones, not Anderson Silva, not Georges St-Pierre, not Jose Aldo and not even Dominick Cruz. Even Edgar's contemporaries in the lightweight division typically win fights much more convincingly than he does.

Edgar not cutting weight is cool and Joe Rogan seems to have lots of fun discussing it, but maybe we've seen the limitations of that practice.

But either way, whether it's the weight or just Edgar's fighting style, I just have no sympathy for him anymore. I don't think he deserves an endless stream of rematches just because he's bound and determined to compete in a weight class (or perhaps two weight classes) above where he should be.

I'm just burnt out on hearing Edgar rationalize his victories by talking about how he landed three or four more punches than his opponent or how he edged a round by landing an ineffectual takedown.

Frankie Edgar may have gotten the shaft against Benson Henderson, but that was more an inevitability than anything considering how often he finds himself in close, contentious five round fights.

Peter writes: Do you think Brandon Vera did well in his fight with Shogun? I do and should the UFC keep him for a few more fights or à possible rematch with Shogun? I would like to see that rematch.

A: I was in the Staples Center for that fight and I thought the fight was really, really close watching it live. However, watching again on television, I just saw Shogun tire himself out beating up Brandon Vera and then getting up the stamina to finish him in the fourth round.

However, while I'm not particularly interested in a rematch right now, I am more interested in seeing Brandon Vera perform now than I've ever been. He showed a real toughness and an attitude in the Shogun fight that he had previously lacked.

I think most people are now more invested in the Brandon Vera story and seeing what he could do against a slightly lower level of competition. Again, I thought Shogun won every round, but it was still a heck of a performance from Brandon Vera.

James writes: Who will win? Jose Aldo or Erik Koch? And after Aldo wins will he fight Frankie Edgar? And who will win that fight as well?

A: To this point, Jose Aldo has shown no real weaknesses. He had a bad weight cut in his fight with Mark Hominick, but outside of the fifth round of that fight he's really run over every opponent he's faced in the WEC and the UFC. While Erik Koch is stylistically different from any opponent Aldo has faced yet, I still think he's proven to be a level above him in all areas.

Despite having already proven that he has trouble convincingly winning fights at the highest level at lightweight, I don't get the impression that Frankie Edgar is considering a move to featherweight. Even if he did, I don't see him getting a title shot coming off of two losses.

However, if and when Aldo and Edgar do meet I'd probably favor the more devastating striker, Jose Aldo. Frankie Edgar is primarily a boxer and a wrestler and he's not dangerous enough at either of those things to give Aldo too much trouble; and Aldo can debilitate Edgar with leg kicks, kicks to the body, punches to the body, and punches to the head.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter @JasonAmadi and direct your "Ask the Torch" questions to mmatorch@gmail.com.