UFC 281: Frankie Edgar Expected Last Bout Set vs Chris Gutierrez
Frankie Edgar will likely enter the octagon for the last time at Madison Square Garden at UFC 281 PPV.
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto is reporting that Edgar will face Chris Gutierrez in a bantamweight fight on UFC PPV on November 12, 2022, which is expected to be his retirement bout.
This will just be the fourth bout for Edgar since moving to the 135 lbs division in 2020, with 1 win and 2 losses previously. After beating Pedro Munhoz, Edgar has suffered knockout losses to Cory Sandhagen(Fight Night) and Marlon Vera(UFC 268). Chris Gutierrez remains undefeated since his UFC debut in 2019 with 6 wins and a draw. Most recently, he defeated Danaa Batgerel at a Fight Night event in March this year.
Edgar, a former UFC Lightweight Champion, will be near his hometown of New Jersey and in the market where he rose to the ranks in MMA. Edgar made his debut in Underground Combat League in 2005 at The Bronx in New York. He later made his UFC debut in 2007 with a win over Tyson Griffin in the lightweight division. He has been with UFC ever since and won the Lightweight title defeating BJ Penn in 2010 at UFC 112.
After back-to-back losses to Benson Henderson for the lightweight title, Edgar would move to the featherweight division in 2013. Although, a title still kept on eluding him as he suffered a loss to Jose Aldo at UFC 156. After raking up 5 wins in a row between 2013 to 2015, Edgar got an interim featherweight title fight rematch against Aldo but failed to win again.
With a loss to Max Halloway at UFC 240 and a TKO loss to Chan Sung Jung later that year, Edgar moved to bantamweight division. The bout at UFC 281 will be his 30th UFC bout and third at Madison Square Garden. Will he bid goodbye with a win or will Gutierrez keep his unbeaten run going?
UFC 281 features a Middleweight title bout between Israel Adesanya and Alex Periera in the main event. Keep tuned in for more news and updates.