TORONTO — UFC president Dana White believes lightweight champion Frankie (The Answer) Edgar has jumped past welterweight title-holder Georges St-Pierre into the No. 2 spot in the unofficial pound-for-pound fighter rankings.
White, along with most other observers, has consistently ranked middleweight champion Anderson Silva as No. 1, with Montreal’s GSP in second spot.
But after watching Edgar stop Gray Maynard at UFC 136 on Saturday in Houston, White revised his view.
“He’s the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, period,” White, speaking at the post-fight news conference, said of Edgar.
“The only thing that keeps him from being No. 1 is that Anderson Silva has not been beaten in the UFC since (entering the organization in) 2006 and most of the time he’s been the champion. It’s the only thing that keeps Frankie Edgar from being the No. 1 pound-for-pound.
“If you really look at what being pound-for-pound means, you cannot deny that Frankie Edgar is No. 2. The guy weighs 145 pounds. He’s beating people at 155 pounds.
Tonight he beat a guy again who had him out of it, I mean he was done in the first round — and a guy who many people believed had his number — he knocked him out tonight.”
“I don’t care who disagrees. You’re wrong and I’m right,” White added.
Told he might have upset his Canadian fans, White said later: “They can’t deny it either.”
The UFC boss also called Edgar “the best boxer in the UFC,” calling him “the Arturo Gatti of MMA.”
Edgar (14-1-1) is 2-0-1 in 155-pound title defences after dethroning B.J. Penn at UFC 112 in April 2010.
The 30-year-old St-Pierre (22-2) has defended his 170-pound title six times since winning it back from Matt Serra at UFC 83 in April 2008. St-Pierre lost his crown to Serra in his first title defence at UFC 69 in April 2007.
The 36-year-old Silva (29-4) is 14-0 in the UFC including nine successful title defences.
Said Edgar: “Just to be the same light as those guys is a big honour for me, but in all reality it’s opinion-based.”