Frankie Edgar doesn’t believe Jose Aldo should get the next bantamweight title shot.
Aldo made his bantamweight debut against Marlon Moraes at UFC 245 last week and fared pretty well with many thinking he had done enough to win. However, two judges saw it differently as Moraes was given the split decision win.
Bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo was one who thought Aldo won and told UFC president Dana White that he wanted the Brazilian next. White also seemed receptive to the idea, especially as he too thought Aldo had won the fight.
However, Edgar believes Aldo — who is now on a two-fight losing streak — getting a title shot would be a slap in the face to the other top contenders in the bantamweight division.
“I mean Dana’s the boss, you know what I mean? Cejudo seems like he likes it but I don’t think that’s the right move,” Edgar said on the TSN MMA Show recently. “But I’m not Dana. We’ll see. 135 has a lot of good fighters right now.
“I don’t know if Aldo deserves that shot right away. Aldo, what he’s done in his career, he’s got such a name that it is almost viable that they can make it happen. I think that would be a slap in the face to some other guys, maybe.”
One of them is Petr Yan who looked very impressive in his third-round knockout win over Urijah Faber at UFC 245. “No Mercy” has called for a title shot repeatedly since and Edgar rates him highly as a fighter.
“Yeah, he definitely did look very good,” Edgar added of Yan. “I thought Urijah looked pretty good early on. Urijah started moving his feet a little bit and Yan took full advantage of that. A lot of power, a lot of skills … he’s a stud as well.”
Yan could be one of many future opponents for Edgar. While he’s facing The Korean Zombie in a featherweight bout at UFC Busan on Saturday, he is expected to make the move to bantamweight soon after.
However, a win over Zombie may change those plans, especially as Max Holloway is no longer the featherweight champion. At least for now.