Soon to be 41 years of age, former Ultimate Fighting Championship champion
Frankie
Edgar is ready for one last ride.
Per the UFC’s broadcast partner of ESPN
on Thursday, Edgar (24-10-1) has his final fight with the promotion
booked. The New Jersey native intends on it being his retirement
bout, and it will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York City
on Nov 12 at UFC
281. In the bantamweight division, he will square off against
the surging Chris
Gutierrez (18-4-2), and “The Answer” has since confirmed the
pairing on social media.
The ex-lightweight king has struggled as of late, dropping four of
his last five dating back to 2019 across both featherweight and
bantamweight. When losing to Max
Holloway for the title, and then succumbing to strikes in the
first round to Chan Sung
Jung a few months later in 2019, Edgar shifted gears to 135
pounds. His initial trip down went his way, after five thrilling
rounds with Pedro
Munhoz, as he picked up the split call. Two knockouts to
Cory
Sandhagen and Marlon Vera
left many wondering what Edgar had left, and he now faces an
opponent that has not lost in several years.
While the 41-year-old Edgar has hit a rough patch, it has been all
positive for “El Guapo” Gutierrez in the Octagon. Gutierrez
suffered a submission loss in his promotional debut in 2018 against
Raoni
Barcelos and has not looked back, rattling off an unbeaten
streak of seven including six wins and a draw to Cody
Durden. Most recently, the Texan cracked Batgerel
Danaa with a spinning back fist at UFC on ESPN 33 in March to
move his win streak to three straight. Of note, Gutierrez’ stoppage
is the only one in UFC history to come from a spinning back fist
where elbows were involved in the finishing sequence.
The stacked UFC 281 lineup will go down on Nov. 12 inside of
Madison Square Garden in New York. Capping off the event will be a
middleweight championship grudge match between Israel
Adesanya and Alex
Pereira. The co-main attraction will see newly crowned
strawweight champ Carla
Esparza make her first defense against ex-titleholder Weili
Zhang. Additional main card tilts include a lightweight scrap
pitting Dustin
Poirier against Michael
Chandler, and Dan Hooker
vs. Claudio
Puelles also at 155 pounds. It is currently undetermined where
Edgar-Gutierrez will be placed on the billing.