Preview: Edgar Hits Busan With Nothing To Lose

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Frankie Edgar has nothing to lose.

I know you’re probably thinking, “He can lose the fight, dumbass,” and you wouldn’t be wrong. But that’s a small price to pay for a trip to South Korea, where “The Answer” will make about $200,000 if he loses to Chan Sung Jung and probably double that if he wins.

Edgar, 38, was expected to make the drop down to the bantamweight division to battle No. 3-ranked contender, Cory Sandhagen, but then the promotion called and asked him to step in for the injured Brian Ortega in the UFC Busan main event this Sat. night (Dec. 14) on ESPN+.

Jose Aldo, another former UFC champion, lost his last fight at featherweight, dropped to 135 pounds and lost that fight too, and is still in the running for a potential bantamweight title shot, so there’s no reason to think Edgar would not be entitled to keep his Sandhagen spot — or something comparable — after this weekend’s action.

Even if the promotion has to postpone it for a month or two.

With that in mind, I admit I was a bit surprised to hear Sandhagen, 27, slam Edgar for taking the Jung fight. Instead, he should be paying attention to “The Answer” because the former lightweight champion is laying the blueprint for the fighters who come after him. There’s a reason Edgar makes good money and has lots of pull within the organization and I can promise you, it’s not because he’s from New Jersey.

Short-notice main events are offered from time-to-time. Some fighters (like Edgar) take them, even when they are risky and can lead to disaster. Other fighters (like Francis Ngannou) don’t, because they don’t want to lose their spot in line. There is no right or wrong answer because every athlete has to do what they believe is best for their career.

One thing I do know is that Edgar is bringing home a monster paycheck for Christmas while “The Predator” is talking about exploring free agency because he never gets to compete.

Sandhagen can do all the bellyaching he wants about losing his “Answer” fight but if he’s honest with himself, he’ll admit that his end goal is to be in the same place as Edgar: Being able to fight who you want, when you want, because you’ve already seen and done (almost) everything there is to do.

While getting paid accordingly.