Frankie Edgar hopes win over Penn will help title bid

Many fans were left scratching their heads as to why former UFC lightweight champion Frankie accepted a third fight against fellow former title-holder BJ Penn after having defeated "The Prodigy" twice before. "The Answer" explained why he decided to coach opposite Penn and then fight him this July 6 for a third time in a recent interview with USA Today.

“The whole package made me interested,” Edgar said.

“If you look at past coaches, they are big names in the UFC, so I think it was the best next step for me. In order to do that, I had to fight BJ  again.”

Edgar is also savvy enough to understand that, though Penn is well past his prime, the former two-division champion has a name that will always carry weight with it. Racking up wins against those guys is never a bad thing.

“He’s still got an aura about him,” Edgar said of Penn.

“He’s a legend and probably one of the best lightweights that has ever fought in MMA. A win over him, if I can make it convincing, does a lot to help me in the title picture.”

Edgar, who last fought and won against Charles Oliveira back in July at UFC 162, hopes that the spotlight and another win can bring him closer to a second title shot at 145 pounds. The soft-spoken fighter seems to have learned that the attention you get outside of the cage can often be as important as what you do inside of it, when it comes to securing big opportunities.

“I’m not fighting until July, and we’ll see what happens from there,” Edgar said of the possibility of earning another title shot.

“The fight game is funny. It’s not always who deserves the shot, it’s who’s in the best position for it.”

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