Huge title implications await the victor of this Saturday’s Featherweight rematch between former Lightweight best Frankie Edgar, and longtime 145lbs challenger ‘Killer’ Cub Swanson. The pair co-headliner UFC Fight Night Atlantic City in a re-run of their winter 2014 clash. Both men faced off back at UFC Fight Night Austin in the main event that night, with Swanson giving up his neck to a nasty neck crank, giving Frankie his third of an eventual five-fight win streak. Both men fell victim to the hands, literally of title challenger Brian Ortega in their last Octagon visits, Frankie getting knocked stiff for the first time in his career with a huge uppercut, after Ortega wrapped Cub in a tight Guillotine, giving him his sixth submission setback.
Both men have incredibly storied careers, with Frankie a UFC mainstay since his 2007 promotional bow, while Cub plied his trade in the now-defunct World Extreme Cagefighting brand, losing to the elite José Aldo, Jens Pulver and Chad Mendes in a mediocre spell. An evolution to their respective games is shared by both men as well, with Cub polishing his boxing and Frankie utilizing his wrestling to smother the majority of his opponents not named José Aldo. Both men have also cleared out most of their Featherweight counterparts as well, with Frankie laying recent waste to Charles Oliveira, Yair Rodríguez and Jeremy Stephens, while Swanson has stopped the runs of now Lightweight elite Dustin Poirier, Doo Ho Choi and also the previously mentioned Stephens and Oliveira.
Unquestionably, Swanson has the tools to land on Frankie’s chin, but even more so, evident from the first meeting, Edgar can use his wrestling, take Cub’s back and force him to tap. The question remains, who can land first, and also how susceptible to knockouts has Frankie become after that massive uppercut to Ortega, also only a month ago.
Cub Swanson via knockout.
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