The Big 3, Part 3: Penn vs Edgar

Welcome to the third and final round in my breakdown of the "Big 3" where we will feature BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar meeting a second time to battle for the UFC lightweight strap.  The two previously met this past April, with Edgar pulling off the upset victory by unanimous decision.

Firstly, as I've already mentioned, I feel that this fight is a joke.  The fact that Edgar's first title defense is against the man he won the title from is a mistake.  Yes, while it might have been a close fight, the fact is that Edgar won.  While Shogun vs. Machida was understandable, the growing trend (witness the recently announced Sonnen vs Silva II) towards immediate rematches is irritating.

While I feel that Kenny Florian deserves the first shot at Frankie's newly aquired accessory, Edgar (competitor that he is) has stated that Gray Maynard (the only fighter to beat him) deserves the shot.

From what I have seen of Edgar, it's not a matter of "who deserves what"; it's a matter of Frankie's desire to avvenge his only loss.  But BJ thinks differently. BJ thinks that, by Edgar speaking for Gray, he has shown his true colors: Yellow.

I'd like to remind everyone(BJ included) that after the "Grease Gate" scandal that BJ sent his own mother to lobby on his behalf to the California State Athletic Commision (don't believe me? Google it).

While I don't doubt BJ's warrior spirit, this makes him a bit of a bitch with no right to speak of cowardice towards Edgar's logical statement.  Regardless of this, however, the fact of the matter is that these two will face each other once more.  So in a brief synopsis:

Look for Penn to be in shape and very aggresive from the get go.  A motivated Penn is scary.  But I don't see any new results.  While Penn may have brought in WEC competitor Antonio Banuelos to help prepare for speed and elusiveness, Frankie is in a different league.

In my opinion, what won the original bought for Edgar was a combination of heart, strong foot work, speed, angles, and boxing.

Edgar is fast, but combine this with absolutely sick angles and movement.  The result was a guy that was destined to be "first" and could effectively shut BJ down.  Sinus infection or not, BJ got schooled.

And I expect the same thing to happen again.