In sports, we often hear the term “heart” thrown around. We see athletes who push through when others would cave to the pressure. At UFC 136 we witnessed this exact thing, but Frankie Edgar didn’t just find himself in a high-pressure situation that was an almost exact replay of his situation during his January fight against Gray Maynard; the most stunning thing was that he exploded through and dominated that pressure on his way to victory.
In the opening moments of the first round Maynard hurt Edgar with a right hand. His knees were wobbly and he was forced to backpedal across the cage. Smelling blood, Maynard charged in and looked as if he had learned from their earlier fight that he needed to pick his shots better when trying to finish opponents. However, none of that helped him, as Edgar was able to hold on and survive the round, even as his face was spattered with blood.
From that point on, Edgar got going, ducking and dodging as he countered almost everything thrown his way. He pelted Maynard with multiple combinations that would stop the former All-American wrestler in his tracks. Keeping his opponent off rhythm with constant moving and pressure, Edgar began to take a commanding lead. Then in the fourth round, a right uppercut caught Maynard and staggered him. “The Answer” knew just what to do, as he pressed his challenger and finished him up against the cage. With that, the man who many people think should move to featherweight successfully defended his lightweight championship, and overcame his biggest challenge to date.
The celebration that took place in the cage was more of validation than of relief. Improving to 14-1-1, Edgar once again proved to many critics that he is able to fight at this weight class and be a long-reigning champion. He continues to grow as a fighter, and visibly improves with each outing. After his controversial decision over BJ Penn, he dominated the future Hall of Famer during the rematch. In the rematch with Maynard, “The Bully” had Edgar hurt once again, but instead of wilting to the pressure he turned the game around, and walked his opponent down to a TKO victory.
Mixed martial arts is still a relatively young sport when compared to the others. It doesn’t have the legendary stories that have been created in other leagues, such as Bobby Baun scoring a game winning goal in game seven of the 1964 Stanley Cup finals — while playing with a broken ankle. The NBA, NFL and Major Leagues all have their stories of athletes who went above and beyond in order to win. With his victory on Saturday night, Frankie Edgar may be solidifying a bid to make his the first story in MMA that can be placed within that category.
