B.J. Penn doesn't think Frankie Edgar deserves UFC Title rematch with Ben Henderson

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"Honestly, I don't think he should have [received a rematch]. He could make the case for it. He gave me a rematch. He had to give Gray [Maynard] the rematch, because they had a draw. I'd like to see Benson Henderson fight Nate Diaz. Fight someone else.... I got the rematch, some people say it was a close fight or not. Frankie's fight, I guess you could have made a case that he did well with Benson. But to me, I look at fights - I don't know who took the guy down more. I don't look at stuff like that. Who woke up in the morning and who was in more pain? I think Frankie Edgar was hurt the next morning. Benson told me [Edgar] had his 'stunner shades' on. I think he probably got hurt more."

-Appearing on Thursday's MMA Uncensored Live on Spike TV, former UFC Lightweight Champion B.J. Penn discusses why he doesn't think Frankie Edgar deserved a rematch against Benson Henderson (transcribed by MMAMania.com.

Penick's Analysis: Penn's "reasoning" that Edgar was hurting more the next morning is a ridiculous way to look at the fight, but there were certainly differences between the rematches that Edgar gave Penn and Maynard and the one he's getting with Henderson. The first fight with Penn was almost universally scored for Penn, despite Edgar getting the nod by the judges in Abu Dhabi. The second fight with Maynard was a draw that necessitated a third fight. Edgar's loss to Henderson was close, but still fairly clearly a 3-2 win for Henderson. Still, it doesn't matter that Edgar may have been hurt more in the fight, as that's not how fights are scored. He was hurt more in the second Maynard fight when he was nearly finished twice in the first round, yet he still came back to get the draw. The pain factor doesn't play into this at all on that front.

[B.J. Penn art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Volk Han Joachim Hansen Antoni Hardonk Dan Hardy Lee Hasdell