Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Lightweights

5. Frankie Edgar

Edgar had a great career at featherweight as well, and was always a severely undersized lightweight, standing just 5-foot-6 and having to cut very little weight to make 155. Yet, so talented was Edgar that he attained a spot well inside the Top 10 greatest lightweights ever. Edgar was a true martial arts master, beginning with a great wrestling base, becoming outstanding at BJJ and finally developing excellent striking. In his prime, he was one of the very best pound-for-pound fighters in the entire sport. On his way to the title, he scored victories over Jim Miller, previously undefeated Tyson Griffin—a huge upset at the time, as Edgar was a +525 underdog—Mark Bocek, Spencer Fisher, Hermes Franca and Sean Sherk, though he did drop a decision to superlative grappler Gray Maynard. Edgar shocked the world when he defeated B.J. Penn for the title as a roughly +600 underdog, and then defended it in the rematch, despite still being underrated as a considerable +240 underdog. He was still the underdog when fighting Maynard in a rematch, this time for the title, which was one of the greatest matches ever and ended in a draw, though Frankie Edgar would win the rubber match via fourth-round stoppage in yet another of the greatest fights MMA has ever witnessed. Edgar then lost the crown to Benson Henderson in a decision that could have gone either way, then lost the rematch in a robbery that virtually everyone had for either him or as a draw. Despite probably still being the legitimate best lightweight fighter in the world, regardless of the handicap of being smaller, Edgar was keen to face foes closer to his own size and dropped down to featherweight, where he challenged reigning champion Jose Aldo and found that Aldo was much better than Henderson, though he continued having success in a legendary career. Edgar did more than enough at 155 pounds to be considered one of the best ever.

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