[autotag]Pedro Munhoz[/autotag] has had some time for his loss to [autotag]Frankie Edgar[/autotag] to marinate, and he’s not happy with the taste.
Munhoz (18-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) lost a split decision to Edgar (24-8-1 MMA, 18-8-1 UFC) this past Saturday in the UFC on ESPN 15 main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Edgar’s two winning scorecards gave him 48-47 totals. The dissenting third judge in Munhoz’s favor had the fight 49-46.
The fight was Edgar’s debut in the bantamweight division after several years at featherweight, a division in which he fought for a title, and years before that at lightweight, where he was a UFC champion. Edgar almost certainly is a future UFC Hall of Famer, but Munhoz on Monday said on Instagram his legendary status shouldn’t matter – and said he wants a rematch from UFC president Dana White.
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“I’ve always done my talking in the octagon but this needs to be said,” Munhoz posted. “I work too hard to get screwed by poor judges who have no training and even less accountability. Look at the stats and the damage. Look at the 17 of 20 media sites who agreed I won, 7 of which had it 49-46. Tell me how the deciding judge gave round 3 to Frankie. He’s a legend, but I won that fight and want a rematch now @danawhite”
Of the sites tracked by MMADecisions.com, seven had Munhoz winning 49-46 and 12 had him winning 48-47. Three sites gave the bout to Edgar at 48-47 and one gave it to him at 49-46.
The five-round bout won “Fight of the Night” honors, and Edgar was transported to the hospital after his win. Munhoz attended the post-event news conference, but he was bloodied up by Edgar in the fight.
The UFC’s official stats for the fight have Munhoz winning the overall striking battle 166-135. Edgar landed the fight’s only pair of takedowns. Leg strikes were the name of the game for Munhoz, who landed 44 of them – most to Edgar’s lead leg.
After wins in seven of eight fights, Munhoz now is on the first skid of his career with consecutive losses to Edgar and Aljamain Sterling. During his solid run of almost three years, his lone loss was a split call to former flyweight title challenger John Dodson, and his wins including a first-round knockout of former champion Cody Garbrandt in March 2019. Three of his five career losses have been split decisions, and he never has been finished.
Edgar needed a turnaround after losses in three of his past four featherweight fights. The setbacks came to Max Holloway in a title fight and former title challengers Brian Ortega and Chan Sung Jung. But in a new weight class, and with a win under his belt out of the gate, Edgar talked after the fight about wanting to get into title contention in his new division.
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