At UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson, we saw one of the most technically gifted fighters in the sport of MMA lose his title. Now, many will question that fighter and his decision to fight at his chosen weight class. Obviously, we're talking about Frankie Edgar and his unanimous decision loss to Ben Henderson in a Lightweight Championship fight.
Edgar has always been an undersized fighter, and probably wouldn't have ever fought for the title at that weight class if the UFC had brought in the featherweight and bantamweight clases sooner. Hell, the guy could probably get close to making flyweight (hyperbole, keyboard warriors). But Edgar wanted to fight for the biggest organization, and he got by on his skill, without the benefit of being bigger than any of his UFC opponents. He was always the smaller guy.
And he always won (for the most part). The only blemishes were a loss to Gray Maynard earlier in his career and a draw against Maynard after winning the title. Edgar would later go on to knock Maynard out to retain his title before facing Henderson. Everything has been a matter of Edgar being faster and more-skilled than his opponent.Henderson is a lot bigger than Edgar. That isn't to say that Henderson won because of his size alone, it's just saying that Henderson had the size and strength advantage and that gave him the edge.
Maynard also had the size advantage, but he didn't have enough skill to make up for the fact that Edgar has it oozing out the wazoo, which is typically where that kind of thing oozes from.
So why are folks already talking about a potential drop in weight and a future marquee matchup with Featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo? Aside from the fact that said fight would likely be incredibly competitive and entertaining, it just doesn't make all-that much sense for Edgar's career right now. The guy dethroned B.J. Penn by making him look absolutely silly for no less than eight of the 10 rounds they fought, survived an unholy beating to come back and force a draw with Maynard, and then hand Maynard the very same beating in the third meeting.
And he's not a good fit at lightweight? Then let me ask you - who's going to beat him next? Will Jim Miller get past his next opponent and out-blue-collar him to death? Is Nate Diaz gonna mean mug him until he runs in fear to the featherweight division? What about Clay Guida and the caveman dance? None of these things are going to force Edgar to drop. He owes it to himself, if not anyone else, to get back to the top and another crack at Henderson before considering a drop in weight.