By MATT BOONE
MMANEWS.com Staff Writer
En route to becoming the new UFC Lightweight Champion after a shocking decision victory over the legendary B.J. Penn at UFC 112, Frankie Edgar's win is backed up by the CompuStrike statistical breakdown of the fight.
Several things jump out when looking at the numbers, such as Edgar's edge in landed kicks, 16 to 3, and takedowns, 2 to Penn's 0. Another key note in the numbers is that Edgar got more active and accurate in the later rounds, which might have been his key in winning a closely fought battle.
While Edgar had the decision 50-45 (winning all 5 rounds), 49-46 (winning 4 of 5 rounds) and 47-46 (winning 3 of 5 rounds) by large margins, the fight was closer than what you would think based strictly on seeing the judges scorecards. A lot of the rounds were close, but it's hard to justify giving Edgar all five rounds, which he himself admitted during the UFC 112 post-fight press conference.
Edgar landed 90 out of 236 total strikes, to Penn's 81 out of 242 total strikes, or 38% to Penn's 33% connect-rate. In the final two rounds, Edgar's out-put compared to Penn's was greater than the first three rounds. This was evident in the fight as Penn seemed to fatigue in the later rounds. Edgar out-scored Penn, landing 22 out of 51 strikes in the final round, whereas Penn only landed 15 out of 47, with Edgar landing 20 power-strikes to Penn's 14. Edgar scored a takedown on Penn in the final round as well, which secured the final frame for him on all the scorecards.
Check out more stats from the Penn-Edgar CompuStrike breakdown.
