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Frankie Edgar on Urijah Faber Bout: ‘More People Talking About This Fight Than Any I’ve Had’

Back in the days before the lighter weight classes were well established, back when the UFC cut their lightweight division, Urijah Faber became the face of little guys.

He defeated Cole Escovedo at WEC 19 in March 2006 to capture the featherweight title in such dominating fashion that Escovedo’s corner threw in the towel following the second round.

While Faber was leaving his mark on the sport, Frankie Edgar was preparing to make his professional mixed martial arts debut. He’d eventually become the UFC lightweight champion, but in 2005 Edgar drew inspiration from what Faber was accomplishing.

“Urijah is the guy everyone wanted to be when I first got into this sport. He was the biggest name out of the lightweight guys. Being a lightweight myself, I was striving to be that guy,” said Edgar during a recent media press conference.

In 2010, Faber moved to the bantamweight division and made a run at the title, but came up short in two championship opportunities. At UFC Fight Night 66, on May 16, Faber returns to the 145-pound weight class to take on Edgar in the featured bout of the UFC’s first event in the Philippines. And it’s a fight Edgar believes is more anticipated than any other fight he’s had in his career.

“The buzz is definitely out there. I think I’ve gotten more people talking about this fight than any other that I’ve had booked so far. I know people are excited. People have been talking about it for a long time,” said Edgar. “I knew eventually we’d cross paths. It wouldn’t be right if we didn’t fight each other.”

The match-up pits two former world champions against each other. Faber has never lost a non-title fight and has fought for a world title thirteen times. Edgar has completed in seven UFC title fights and has only lost once in a non-title bout. He later avenged the loss, winning by knockout.

There's been a lot of debate about whether or not to call this a “superfight,” but no matter what you want to call it, Edgar vs. Faber is a fight that most of us want to see.

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