Frankie Edgar vs. Ben Henderson (James Law/HeavyMMA)
White orders up rematch from UFC 144 fight for summer
Dana White said he would be talking to Frankie Edgar on Tuesday, and it was only a matter hours before a resolution was in place.
Edgar, the former UFC lightweight champion, will stay in the division and get a rematch with Ben Henderson for the title that “Smooth” took from him 10 days ago at UFC 144 in Japan.
Henderson won by unanimous decision in the main event, winning with scores of 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47. After the fight, White said he scored the fight for Edgar. And Edgar immediately began lobbying for a rematch, saying that because he granted rematches in close title fights to BJ Penn and Gray Maynard, he should be afforded the same.
Tuesday evening, he got his wish. Despite White hoping to convince Edgar to drop to featherweight – where he said the former champ would get an immediate title fight against Jose Aldo – White said via Twitter that Edgar will get his rematch with Henderson this summer.
No date or venue for the fight has been announced, though Henderson could be out as long as six months, or until he is cleared by a doctor following the fight.
The lightweight contendership in the UFC now gets a little clogged up again – which is what White was worried would happen with a rematch for Edgar. In New York on Tuesday to announce the May 5 UFC on Fox card, which has a lightweight headlining bout between Nate Diaz and Jim Miller, White said the hope was still for the winner of that fight to get the next title shot. But the winner of that fight now either will have to wait for the Edgar-Henderson rematch to be resolved, or take another fight in the meantime.
And also left out of the mix for now is former WEC champion Anthony Pettis, whose head kick knockout win over Joe Lauzon in Japan put him in position to ask for a shot at Henderson – whom he beat in December 2010 to win the final WEC 155-pound belt.
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