Could we see Frankie Edgar vs. Dominick Cruz in the near future?
The former UFC Lightweight Champion is coming off an impressive victory over Pedro Munhoz at UFC Vegas 7 and is now the No. 5 ranked fighter in the bantamweight division.
Should Frankie beat top contenders such as Marlon Moraes and Aljamain Sterling, then a title shot should definitely be in the veteran’s future; however, Edgar is in no rush to get into the title picture and is actually interested in fighting former UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz.
While Cruz hasn’t seen much activity since dropping the belt to Cody Garbrandt at UFC 207, the 34-year-old will go down as one of the best 135-pound fighters in MMA as the veteran dominated the bantamweight division from 2010 to 2016, with strong wins over Urijah Faber, T.J. Dillashaw, and Demetrious Johnson.
Speaking on Bruce Buffer’s on It’s Time podcast, Edgar expressed his desire to have a legacy fight against the former bantamweight champ (Transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting):
“Another guy that’s also a little older and a legend himself is Dominick Cruz,” Edgar said. “A lot of people are still talking about that, so I’m definitely interested. The title is obviously my main goal, where my sight’s on, but it doesn’t have to be right away. I’m willing to fight some of those legacy fights as well.”
Edgar doesn’t know if the fight could end coming to fruition; however, he hopes to return to the octagon sometime in December:
“I think before the year is out,” Edgar said about when he’d like to return. “Before Christmas would be ideal. I just spoke with my manager about wanting to get in there in December and he’s got some ideas. I’m sure he’s gonna run it by the UFC soon.”
As of this writing, Dominick Cruz hasn’t responded to Frankie Edgar wanting to fight him next. Following his loss to Henry Cejudo, Cruz has stated that he intends to return to the octagon; however, he hasn’t given any indication on when he plans on fighting again.