When Frankie Edgar hit the floor at UFC 222, so did Joe Rogan’s jaw.
Joe Rogan said a lot using very few ‘words’ at the climax of UFC 222’s event. When Brian Ortega landed that slashing elbow before lifting Frankie Edgar off his feet with an uppercut, all he could do was scream in disbelief.
“Oooooh! Ooooooh! Wow!”
That’s all that needed to be said. Play-by-play man Jon Anik steadied the ship by informing the masses that ‘T-City’ became the first man to finish ‘The Answer’.
IT IS ALL OVER! 😱
Brian Ortega becomes the first UFC fighter to finish Frankie Edgar!
That uppercut 💥💥💥
📺 BT Sport 2 HD pic.twitter.com/pIvQN2Bzy7
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) March 4, 2018
The agony
Edgar felt the full force of that vicious haymaker, but it may have hit his loyal team harder.
His coaches, Ricardo Almeida and Mark Henry, had seen the Toms River native survive a remarkable amount of adversity in over a decade in the UFC. They watched him get dropped multiple times in the first round against Gray Maynard before picking himself up, dusting himself off and fighting to a draw.
They saw him recover from that seismic Jeremy Stephens headkick like a champ to score a unanimous decision victory.
However, just like everyone else, they didn’t see this coming.
The ecstasy
For Team Ortega, this marked the moment the world finally took notice of what they had seen from their fighter behind closed doors.
Coaches Rener Gracie and James Luhrsen raised their hands in the air and leapt out of their seats in delight. His friends and family embraced each other in the crowd through tear-filled eyes.
As for three men in the commentary booth, Rogan, Anik and Cormier, only one word could sum up their reactions to the finish – shock.
Check these cathartic reactions out in the video embedded below. It’s important to note that the YouTube clip is just a preview of UFC 222: the Thrill and the Agony. The full version is available to watch on FightPass.
