Coach Mark Henry: I would love to see Frankie Edgar fight at 135 pounds

Almost two weeks ago at UFC 222, former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar suffered his first ever stoppage loss at the hands of Brian Ortega. But even after such a devastating loss, the 36-year-old Toms River, New Jersey native is not looking hang his gloves up just yet.

Edgar has yet to specify his next career move, but for his striking coach Mark Henry, “The Answer” would likely be a good fit down at 135 pounds at bantamweight.

”I’ll tell you one thing: I would love to see Frankie fight at 135. Every time Frankie has fought somebody his own size, he’s done very well,” Henry told ESPN.

”I re-watched the fight for the first time this weekend, and all these people had tweeted about how much bigger Brian looked,” he continued. “I watched it and said, ‘Holy cow, he was a lot bigger.’”

“It’s tough when you’re giving up size, height, and range. Frankie got caught as he overstepped. He paid the price, but that’s what you have to do to compensate for that range. You have to come hard.”

Fellow fighters such as Frank Mir feel that dropping down ten pounds could be a difficult cut for Edgar to make. For Henry, however, such a move would only be likely if there were higher stakes involved.

”Honestly, I don’t think he’ll move down unless it’s for a title,” Henry said. “I think for him, it’s a toughness thing. I’m guessing he looks at it as moving down looks like a weakness. Well, that’s his weight. If Frankie is 15 pounds less than someone on fight night, that’s three weight classes in boxing. That’s a lot.”

As for the Ortega fight, Henry says it was an option that the team would have really gone for, no ifs or buts.

”He was going to take the fight regardless of what I told him, but if I had to do it 100 more times, I would tell him to take that fight 100 times. That’s the way our camp and Frankie are,” Henry said. “If you’re not confident in yourself, you should take up a different sport. Fighters that don’t want to take fights make me nervous. I have confidence in Frankie against anybody.

After the loss to Ortega, Edgar now holds a record of 22-6-1, with 11 wins by stoppage.