Frankie Edgar has been impressive over the past five years with 13 wins and only one loss in his UFC career. Edgar won the UFC Lightweight Championship belt by unanimous decision against BJ Penn in UFC 112 and defended his title with another unanimous decision over Penn in UFC 118. This time around, Edgar is squaring off against Gray Maynard who is undefeated in the UFC and the only fighter to ever defeat Edgar after hanging in the standup and controlling Frankie on the ground in the final round.
Overview
The Vegas betting lines indicate Maynard as a favorite to take the Lightweight Championship but Edgar hasn’t been a favorite in either of his last two victories. Edgar has evolved and matured as a fighter since his first bout against Maynard when Maynard put on a clinic and all three judges scored the fight 30-27 in favor of Maynard. Since that fight, Frankie Edgar has improved his takedown skills and in his last fight Edgar was able to take down BJ Penn, a fighter known for his top-notch takedown defense. Even though he has improved his takedown skills, Maynard has some of the best takedown defense in the business.
Edgar will most likely try to keep the fight standing and take advantage of his two inch reach advantage and deadly speed. Edgar demonstrated his striking ability in UFC 118 by out striking the world class striker BJ Penn.
Prediction
Despite Edgar’s improved wrestling, expect Maynard to remain confident on the ground and look to exploit what Maynard believes to be Frankie’s inferior wrestling. Maynard has an incredible ground game and has the clear advantage if this fight ends up on the mat. If Frankie Edgar has improved his takedown defense enough to keep this fight standing up for long enough to land a barrage of punches, Edgar will come out victorious. However, at SeatGeek we are in agreement that Maynard will eventually get Edgar on the mat, and wrestle his way to an excruciatingly boring decision for the Championship.
Fan Sentiment Data
Even though the MMA community in general does not seem too hyped about this event, UFC tickets continue to be in strong demand. At SeatGeek, we love to use our data to analyze fan sentiment around major sports events including all major UFC events.
Looking at the average price of a ticket for UFC 125 is $269.53, more expensive than tickets to both UFC 118, averaging $242.44 per ticket, and UFC 124 which averaged $264.41 per ticket. The high ticket prices for this event might be a result of the fact that there hasn’t been a major UFC event in Vegas since UFC 116 in July in combination with the scheduling on New Year’s Day.
Happy New Years and enjoy the fight!
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