Originally published at POLLOCK'S MMA UPDATE: Frankie Edgar comments after KO loss
POST IT NOTES
**This Saturday night, Phil Chertok and I will be LIVE immediately after UFC 258 on the POST YouTube channel. We will have a full rundown of the event with our breakdown and thoughts on the fights, plus your phone calls.
POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: Rewind-A-Raw (LIVE at 11:15 pm ET for Double Double, Iced Capp Espresso Patrons)
Tuesday: ASK-A-WAI Mailbag Show with John & Wai (Patreon)
Tuesday: DEEP IMPACT with Davie Portman (upNXT feed)
Wednesday: Rewind-A-Dynamite (LIVE at 10:15 pm ET for Double Double+ Patrons)
Wednesday: upNXT with Braden Herrington & Davie Portman
Thursday: New Beginning in Hiroshima POST Show with John & Wai (Patreon)
Thursday: The British Wrestling Experience w/ guest Will Cooling
The complete schedule for the week.
MMA NEWS
**Cory Sandhagen delivered one of the most brutal knockouts in recent memory landing a flying knee and stopping Frankie Edgar in 28 seconds on Saturday. The finish was Sandhagen’s second knockout in a row after stopping Marlon Moraes last October and places back near the top of the bantamweight division. Sandhagen suffered a setback last June when he was submitted by Aljamain Sterling, who challenges Petr Yan for the bantamweight title next month but Sandhagen’s two wins should put him back into the title mix.
For Edgar, he is 39 years old and it was his second fight at the weight class after earning a split decision against Pedro Munhoz last August. He has been through a lot of wars during his fourteen years with the UFC including the ones with Gray Maynard that were a generation ago. Edgar released a statement on Monday indicating he will be back:
I’ve licked my wounds long enough, I’m home with my family life is good. On Saturday I was as prepared for a fight as I could have been. Props to Cory Sandhagen he landed a perfectly timed and executed bomb on me, luckily I don’t really remember it much lol. This game can be a cruel bitch and Saturday night was just that, but I ain’t panicked I been here before. Thank you to my family, team and friends who really are all one in the same for continually giving me the love and support it takes to be a fighter. The loyalty and unconditional love and guidance you all give me is truly unbelievable I love all more than you know. To my fans who always ride with me I appreciate you all and you make this fun for me. Till the next time, see you all soon!
**Bellator will be making an announcement on Tuesday at 4 pm ET.
**BKFC’s event this past Friday saw Britain Hart earn a unanimous decision win over the debuting Paige VanZant after five rounds.
**The key bit of news from the show was Chris Leben announcing his retirement after defeating Quentin Henry in the first round of their heavyweight fight. At 40 years of age, Leben retires after three fights with BKFC and last competed in MMA in 2013. Leben was a seminal figure for the explosion of the Ultimate Fighter and the UFC in 2005. His feud with Josh Koscheck led to the most-anticipated fight of the first season after Koscheck and Bobby Southworth bullied Leben inside the house and it was thought they might be thrown off the show but instead, Dana White made them fight and was the key point where you knew this season was a big success as a television property. Leben fought 22 times for the UFC including back-to-back wins against Aaron Simpson and Yoshihiro Akiyama within two weeks of each other and later knocked out Wanderlei Silva in July 2011 before losing his last four fights with the promotion.
**On Saturday, Askar Askar was not medically cleared to compete on the UFC Fight Night event. Askar took the fight with Cody Stamann on short notice replacing Andre Ewell. Askar did make weight for the featherweight fight but was not clear to compete the following day.
**After Clay Guida’s win against Michael Johnson, it was noted in his post-fight interview that he has a new four-fight contract with the UFC. Guida, 39, has fought 30 times in the UFC since October 2006 and the win against Johnson was his first since May 2019. He suffered setbacks in losses to Jim Miller and Bobby Green after the win against Penn and said he is hopeful of fighting an up-and-comer in his next fight. He returned to the lightweight division in June 2017 and has gone 4-3 since then.
**Dustin Poirier appeared on an edition of Hot Ones.
**Episode one of UFC Embedded prior to UFC 258 this Saturday.
**UFC 258 is this Saturday night with an excellent championship fight between Kamaru Usman (17-1) and Gilbert Burns (19-3) for the UFC welterweight title. Usman and Burns were training partners for years in Florida but for this camp, Usman went to Colorado to train under Trevor Wittman while Burns is working under coach Henri Hooft. Burns is a three-time world jiu-jitsu champion and since moving back to welterweight has gone 4-0 and showcased tremendous power to compliment his world-class BJJ. Usman has been a dominant champion and frankly, dominant fighter since winning TUF in 2015. Usman has not been given enough credit for his striking and had a war with Colby Covington in December 2019 where the fight stayed on its feet for five rounds with both taking a lot of damage. This is the third attempt at the fight after they were to fight at UFC 251 last July and Burns got COVID, then in December where Usman had to withdraw due to injury.
Below is the current line-up for UFC 258 this Saturday in Las Vegas:
MAIN CARD (10 pm ET on pay-per-view)
*UFC Welterweight Championship: Kamaru Usman vs. Gilbert Burns
*Flyweight: Maycee Barber vs. Alexa Grasso
*Middleweight: Kelvin Gastelum vs. Ian Heinisch
*Bantamweight: Pedro Munhoz vs. Jimmie Rivera
*Middleweight: Maki Pitolo vs. Julian Marquez
PRELIMINARY CARD (8 pm on ESPN & ESPN+, TSN 1 & 5 in Canada)
*Lightweight: Jim Miller vs. Bobby Green
*Middleweight: Anthony Hernandez vs. Rodolfo Viera
*Welterweight: Belal Muhammad vs. Dhiego Lima
*Strawweight: Polyana Viana vs. Mallory Martin
EARLY PRELIMS (6:15 pm on ESPN+, Fight Pass)
*Featherweight: Brian Kelleher vs. Ricky Simon
*Welterweight: Gabriel Green vs. Philip Rowe
*Flyweight: Miranda Maverick vs. Gillian Robertson
*Catchweight (140 pounds): Andre Ewell vs. Chris Gutierrez
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Andre Ewell vs. Chris Gutierrez at UFC 258 (MMA Junkie)
Sam Hughes vs. Emily Whitmire at UFC Fight Night on Feb. 27 (MMA Fighting)
Mike Jackson vs. Dean Barry at UFC Fight Night on May 1 (MMA DNA)
ON THIS DATE
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