Frankie Edgar won’t have to travel far for his next fight.
Edgar (24-9-1 MMA, 18-9-1 UFC), a former lightweight champion, has been booked for a bantamweight bout against Marlon Vera (19-7-1 MMA, 11-6 UFC) at UFC 268. A person with knowledge of the booking confirmed the matchup to MMA Junkie following an initial report from UFC broadcast partner ESPN.
While not yet formally announced, UFC 268 is expected to take place Nov. 6 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The main card will air on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
New Jersey native and resident Edgar moved to bantamweight in 2020 and picked up a “Fight of the Night” split decision over Pedro Munhoz. But his next time out went south quickly. In February, Cory Sandhagen hit Edgar with a flying knee that put him out cold just 28 seconds into their fight.
That loss gave Edgar three setbacks in his past four bouts, including a featherweight title challenge loss to former champ Max Holloway in July 2019. After he lost the lightweight title in 2012, Edgar has dropped four other title fights, including three at featherweight.
After a five-fight winning streak, Vera has been up and down and alternated wins and losses for five fights. After a May 2020 loss to Song Yadong, he rebounded with a sizable upset of Sean O’Malley at UFC 252 a little more than a year ago. But this past December, he lost a decision to Jose Aldo. He bounced back with a decision over Davey Grant in June, though, and will be looking for his first winning streak since 2019.
With the addition, the UFC 268 lineup now includes:
- Champ Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington – for welterweight title
- Michael Chandler vs. Justin Gaethje
- Luke Rockhold vs. Sean Strickland
- Nassourdine Imavov vs. Edmen Shahbazyan
- Frankie Edgar vs. Marlon Vera
