Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 15 main event was an instant classic as Munhoz welcomed Edgar to the bantamweight division with a competitive five-round effort that ended in the judges rewarding Edgar the split decision with a pair of 48-47 scores (the dissenting judge gave Munhoz the fight 49-46).
At the evening’s post-fight press conference, Munhoz was asked if he thought he won the fight and he was confident that that was the case.
“Yeah, without a doubt,” Munhoz said. “I was just right now with the doctor getting some stitches and then some of my coaches, Dan Lambert, he was just showing me 17 of the media scores—20 media scores, 17 gave me the fight. Seventeen. So only three gave it to him. Also I saw the punching scores, I had the first, third, fourth, and fifth rounds.”
As the fight progressed, it was clear that the final verdict was going to leave one competitor perplexed in regards to having to figure out what more they could have done to earn a decision. In Munhoz’s case, he mixed in winging hooks with a steady diet of leg kicks while foiling Edgar’s attempts to drag the fight to the ground.
Neither fighter was credited with a knockdown, but Munhoz still feels like he was closer to ending the contest.
“Not even the leg kicks,” Munhoz. “I hurt him with the jabs, I chased him five rounds. He got a couple of takedowns, but he couldn’t do anything with the takedowns, I got back up right away. I was looking for the finish.”
“A few times [I thought I had him in trouble], to be honest with you,” Munhoz added. “Not taking anything from him, he’s a hell of a fighter. I have nothing but respect to him and all his team. I really feel and I saw a few times he was hurt and he’s pretty tough, so he hid that really good. I felt that throwing some crosses, some hooks, a couple of teep kicks on his body, the leg kicks he was hiding really good. Sometimes I was just faking that I’m gonna throw the kick and he was falling, so probably he was hurt. The last two fights, both my opponents just left me with scratches. They couldn’t walk out of the cage.”
Munhoz was proud of his own performance and noted that he’ll leave it to his coaches to decide what adjustments and improvements they need to make before his next fight. He made sure not to take anything away from Edgar, who he sees as a legitimate threat at his new home in the 135-pound division.
However, he did suggest that Edgar’s sterling reputation—The 38-year-old is a former UFC lightweight champion and twice competed for the promotion’s featherweight title—may have played a part in the scoring.
“He seems very healthy, he seems very strong, tough, good cardio, a lot of good skills,” Munhoz said. “He definitely belongs in the top-five of the division.
“I just want fair things, you know what I mean? I just don’t wanna lose to people that have a better reputation than I do or people that is a former champ, things like that. That’s my point. I want it just fair. Fair scores.”
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