A UFC champion defending his belt against the number one contender? What year is this?
It may be the age of the money fight, but we’ve seen a few UFC champion versus number one contender title fights in 2017.
Women’s bantamweight queen Amanda Nunes fought Valentina Shevchenko, 170 lb champ Tyron Woodley took on Stephen Thompson then Demian Maia and now the undisputed best featherweight on planet Earth Max Holloway has been booked to face the logical top challenger, Frankie Edgar.
This will mark Holloway’s first defence as 145 lb king. Should he win, the Hawaiian will extend his record for most featherweight wins to 15 and also tie Georges St-Pierre for the longest active win-streak record with 12 wins.
Remember what he looked like on the scales? https://t.co/bWudxFrYwQ
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 2, 2017
Having already held the 155 lb strap, Edgar will have the opportunity to become the fourth fighter to win belts in multiple UFC divisions. If he wins, ‘The Answer’ will join Randy Couture, BJ Penn and Conor McGregor in this elite group of fighters.
Holloway (18-3, 14-2 UFC) comes into this one off a staggering 11-fight win-streak having unified the title against Jose Aldo in his last trip to the Octagon. The 25-year-old is coming dangerously close to cleaning out the division having already beaten the likes of Anthony Pettis, Ricardo Lamas, Jeremy Stephens and Cub Swanson.
Edgar (22-5-1, 16-5-1NC) is riding a two-fight win-streak having finished rising star Yair Rodriguez in his last fight. The Toms River native will be hoping that the third time will be the charm at UFC featherweight gold, as he lost unanimous decisions to Aldo the last two times he fought for that coveted golden strap.
The bout will headline the UFC 218 card in Detroit on December 2 which also features two unofficial title eliminators – Alistair Overeem vs Francis NGannou in the heavyweight division and Sergio Pettis vs Henry Cejudo at 125 lbs.
