UFC on ESPN 15 Frankie Edgar edges Pedro Munhoz in split decision victory

Frankie Edgar’s bantamweight debut at UFC on ESPN 15 was certainly no easy task, but the future UFC hall of famer was certainly up to it. After edging out the always tough #5 ranked Pedro Munhoz in a split decision, Edgar now has wins over Top 5 competition in three weight divisions; lightweight, featherweight, and now bantamweight.

And of course, of more immediate relevance, Edgar has positioned himself as a true contender in his new weight category. Following the fight, his manager Ali Abdelaziz even put out a feeler for a fight with current champion Petr Yan:

Edgar, 38, said after the fight: “I’ve showed I can compete with the best at 38 years old. I don’t want to hear nothing from anybody.”

The fight featured a lot of back and forth action, with many of the rounds being a toss up both statistically and in the eye test. However, Edgar did have the most dominant round – Round 2, in which he out-struck Munhoz by a significant margin.

Edgar was consistently landing effective punch combinations to the head and body, while Munhoz fought behind a solid jab and vicious low kicks (which visibly hurt Edgar and affected his footwork). The rounds were so closely contested that the one judge who scored in favor of Munhoz, scored the fight 49-46, giving Edgar only the second round.

Nonetheless, it was an impressive debut at 135lbs for Edgar, who has steadily gained status of “ageless wonder” in MMA.