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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Frankie Edgar's going to be out of his element this summer when he steps into the cage at UFC 162. For the first time since defeating Matt Veach in December of 2009, Edgar will be competing in a three round, non-title fight when he takes on Charles Oliveira.
Not only that, but Edgar has suffered three straight decision losses in very close fights, which marks the first time he's ever dealt with a losing "streak." That ramps up the pressure further for the former Champion, who had been atop the division since April of 2010.
But Edgar is feeling very confident that a turnaround is coming, and in a recent interview with Duane Finley at BleacherReport.com, Edgar said he expects to pull off a great performance on July 6.
"You put my back against the wall, and that is when I'm going to come out with something great," Edgar said. "When everything is stacked against you, I think that is when greatness truly comes out. When things are going your way and in your corner, it is a different situation. But I'm the type of guy—when the pressure is on and my back is against the wall—it is going to bring the very best out of me."
While Oliveira represents a tough young fighter and a definite challenge coming in, he's also a far cry from the fighters Edgar's been facing in recent years. Whether it's been a lightweight legend in B.J. Penn, top contenders to his title in Gray Maynard and Ben Henderson, or the best featherweight in the division's history in Jose Aldo, Edgar's been battling the best of the best.
Oliveira is a step down from that list of fighters, but Edgar's not willing to overlook him in any way.
"I think [Oliveira] is very dangerous," Edgar said. "He's a really long fighter. He's almost six foot tall, and for a short guy like myself, that presents some challenges. He's willing to throw diverse strikes with kicks, knees and punches, then he has a go-for-broke style of jiu-jitsu. He's going to throw submission, and it doesn't matter where he is—he's going for them. I don't know how high his level of jiu-jitsu is going to be, but those guys who go for broke and are willing to go all-in for a submission attempt are dangerous."
Regardless of the challenge, Edgar knows a win is needed in this fight, and he doesn't expect to do anything less.
"I just need to get back to my winning ways," Edgar said. "I need to get back into a rhythm I guess you could say. It's tough because I have three losses. Yeah, they were three pretty tight losses, and some people say I won some of those fights, but it doesn't matter. At the end of the day I lost. At the same, time those losses came against some of the best fighters in the world.
"It sucks having three losses in a row, but I have to play it for what it is. I don't think I had any bad performances in that run. There are some things I need to work on technically and strategically, but I feel like I'm still on my way up. This is just a bump in the road, and I'm going to get back on track. This fight is my opportunity to get that done and get back into the win column."
Penick's Analysis: There's no reason to bet against Edgar into this fight. Oliveira's had some good performances thus far in his career, but they've all come against a lesser level of competition. He's been felled by worse fighters than Edgar, and given how Edgar's lost his last three - and to whom - this is absolutely his fight to lose. He's the better fighter coming in, and he's wholly capable of working back to title contention at 145 lbs. That said, he'll need to win a few before he should be there after three straight losses.
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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