Few people take a Frankie Edgar loss worse than Mark Henry.
After Frankie Edgar lost to Jose Aldo the first time, Mark Henry reckons he gained about 30 lbs in three weeks. As he explained to Ariel Helwani in 2016, when it comes to Frankie, he takes losses ‘really, really bad.’
When he lost to Aldo the second time, Henry pointed the finger of blame directly at himself again.
After Brian Ortega made history with that seismic uppercut, Henry was distraught Octagonside. He let out an almighty shriek, rose to his feet, buried his head in his hands and sank to the floor.
“I was with it.”
Edgar was swiftly booked to rematch Cub Swanson at UFC Atlantic City. 49 days after suffering his first career knockout, he will step back in to face another top five-ranked opponent. The timeline fits with the medical suspension he received after UFC 222 – until April 19, with no contact until April 3. He also claimed on the MMA Hour that he was concussed by Ortega.
During the appearance, Edgar admitted that no one is more disappointed than him over the loss. He simply doesn’t show it as much as his loved ones.
“I got a text from my son who wrestles. He was a little upset with me. It was rough. It was rough. He’s only seven years old, so it was tough for him to come to grips with it, I think. ‘did you not train hard enough?’ (Laughs) and that stuff.”
Aftermath
When he headed back to the hotel room after the fight, Edgar found his coach in an awful state. Henry was hurting, so Edgar took it upon himself to snap him out of it.
“When we got back to the hotel room, Mark was all emotional and sombre. I said, ‘what are we doing here? This is what we deal with, man. So just move on.’ I don’t like to dwell on things.”
Edgar went through a dark period himself. He shut himself off from the world, fearing interactions with his community. Eventually, he picked himself up, dusted himself up and faced it.
“It stung. It sucks. I don’t want to go out to my barber and get a haircut. I don’t want to go the pizzeria and get a slice. I’ll see people and they’re going to want to know what happened. They’re going to want to tell you what happened. Stuff like that, but you’ve got to face it. I tell my kids that all the time. You’ve just got to get on the horse and do it again.”
The concerns over his quick turnaround are understandable. That uneasy feeling probably won’t go away unless Edgar looks good in his return. However, his attitude towards defeat, especially one as brutal as that, is extremely admirable.
