According to Frankie Edgar, he has one (organized) fight left in him – and now it has a date, opponent, and location.
At UFC 281, a Nov.12 event set for Madison Square Garden in New York, the former UFC lightweight champion Edgar (24-10-1 MMA, 18-10-1 UFC) will fight Chris Gutierrez (18-3-2 MMA, 6-1-1 UFC) in what he is saying will be his final outing.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup confirmed the booking Thursday to MMA Junkie but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. ESPN first reported the news.
Edgar, 40, will look to snap a two-fight skid and enter retirement on a win. He most recently competed at UFC 268 in December 2021 when he was knocked out by Marlon Vera. Prior to that, Edgar was knocked out by a Cory Sandhagen flying knee.
A likely future UFC Hall of Famer, Edgar has competed in high-level bouts since his promotional debut in 2007. He won the UFC lightweight championship against B.J. Penn in 2010 and defended it successfully twice after. Edgar fought for UFC titles four more times, but came up short in each.
Gutierrez, 31, has not lost in seven fights. He rides a three-fight winning streak into the bout that includes victories over Andre Ewell, Felipe Colares and Danaa Batgerel.
The latest UFC 281 lineup now includes:
- Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira – for middleweight title
- Carla Esparza vs. Zhang Weili – for strawweight title
- Michael Chandler vs. Dustin Poirier
- Erin Blanchfield vs. Molly McCann
- Dominick Reyes vs. Ryan Spann
- Seungwoo Choi vs. Michael Trizano
- Silvana Gomez Juarez vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
- Renato Moicano vs. Brad Riddell
- Ottman Azaitar vs. Matt Frevola
- Dan Hooker vs. Claudio Puelles
- Nicolae Negumereanu vs. Carlos Ulberg
- Andre Petroski vs. Wellington Turman
- Julio Arce vs. Montel Jackson
- Frankie Edgar vs. Chris Gutierrez
