Frankie Edgar explains why he didn’t drop down in weight sooner

Frankie Edgar initially planned to drop down to bantamweight to fight Cory Sandhagen at UFC Raleigh on January 25, but postponed this plan to take a short-notice featherweight fight with “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung this very weekend at UFC Busan.

While The Korean Zombie is currently at the forefront of Edgar’s mind, he does still intend to drop down to the 135-pound bantamweight division. This news will come as a relief to many of his fans, who have long felt he’s too small for the featherweight division, and most certainly the lightweight division, where he previously held a UFC title.

Speaking to the media ahead of his UFC Busan fight with The Korean Zombie, Frankie Edgar explained why he held off on dropping to bantamweight for so long. He says it has a lot to do with the size of his heart and his er… well, we’ll let him describe it.

See his explanation below (via John Hyon Ko):

Frankie Edgar (@FrankieEdgar) explains that the sport is not about size but heart and balls and that is why he didn't drop down weight classes earlier in his career #UFCBusan pic.twitter.com/Fn5lcAlC6i

— Hyon Ko (@JHKMMA) December 19, 2019

“My coaches have been telling me to go down for a long time,” Edgar said. “I’ve been against it because I believe martial arts isn’t about how big you are, it’s about it’s about how big this is [gestures to heart] and how big these are [gestures to groin]. It should be about that, but guys are getting bigger and bigger, so I think ’35 is my future.”

As aforementioned, Frankie Edgar has spent the last few years of his career competing in the featherweight division, but began his career and ultimately won a UFC title in the lightweight division.

Considering how visibly undersized he is against featherweights like The Korean Zombie, that’s incredibly impressive.

They finally meet 🤝

🇺🇸 @FrankieEdgar vs 🇰🇷 KoreanZombieMMA

➡️ Saturday, Dec 21 | 5amET | LIVE on ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/Ok6emC5b1A

— UFC (@ufc) December 19, 2019

UFC Busan goes down this Saturday, with the undercard beginning at an ungodly 2:00am ET, and the main card beginning at 5:00am ET.

How do you think lionhearted, steel-balled Frankie Edgar will perform in this short-notice featherweight fight?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 12/19/2019.