Frankie Edgar puts a stamp on a new title shot against Aldo-McGregor winner

LAS VEGAS, NV – DECEMBER 11: (L-R) Frankie Edgar punches Chad Mendes in their featherweight bout during the TUF Finale event inside The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on December 11, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

It’s UFC 194 fight weekend, in Las Vegas Nevada and fight fans have arrived in droves in support of what is expected to be a great PPV. But before UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo and interim champion Conor McGregor get in the cage to do battle in their highly anticipated bout, Frankie Edgar and Chad Mendes faced off to decide who would be next to challenge for the featherweight title.

Edgar-Mendes was expected to be a war, a highly contested fight between two equally matched contenders. They both posed great wrestling skills, Edgar was thought to be the slicker boxer, but Chad had the great equalizer with his heavy hands. But this is why they fight the fights in the cage and not on paper as Edgar would shockingly put away Mendes with a right-hand, left hook combination. After Mendes collapsed to the canvas from Frankie’s thunderous shot, Herb Dean would waste no time in putting a halt to the action at 2:28 of the opening stanza. Edgar was a slight favorite going into the fight, but there are few who would have predicted Frankie putting away Mendes so early and in such devastating fashion.

“I always prepare for a battle,” Edgar would comment after his win over Mendes. “I always get my mind right that I’m going to walk away with a bloody nose and stitches. It’s how I like to prepare to mentally get right. But it was nice to walk out of there unscathed, with a KO.”

During the post-fight press conference Dana White would take questions from the media and made it clear Frankie had earned another shot at the UFC Featherweight title. “Sometimes, you’ve got to go out and put the stamp on it. He put a stamp on it tonight, you know what I mean? We had the fight in the Philippines [against Faber] and that thing wasn’t a barnburner. I wanted Frankie to take this fight with Chad. He put the stamp on it tonight. He can not be denied. He went out there and looked spectacular and I guarantee he’s got people buzzing right now.”

Frankie will be front and center tonight as Jose Aldo and Conor Mcgregor meet in their much talked about grudge match and will be looking to face the winner as soon as possible. As to whom he would like to meet, just getting the winner is all Edgar is concerned about. “I look at it like, it’d be nice to take it from Aldo because he’s been on top so long, and we had that close fight where he got the ‘W,’ but McGregor is the big money fight,” Edgar said. “For me, it’s a win-win.”

And Frakie Edgar does is win-win. Yesterday he made it clear that he is a threat to whoever emerges victorious tonight at UFC 194. Aldo-Mcregor beware, the Truth has sealed his title shot, and he’s coming for that UFC gold.