UFC 136 Results: Where Does Frankie Edgar Rank Among the UFC Champions?

Frankie Edgar, despite being a champion, is the perennial underdog due to his small stature and humble demeanor. However, this is undeserved because his skills are definitely on par with those of the other UFC champions (if not exceeding them).

Even UFC president Dana White said that Edgar was the number two pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Where do Edgar's skills rank among those of the other six champions? Read and find out.

Striking: 5th

Despite his knockout victory over Gray Maynard, Edgar's pure striking isn't the best of all the champions since he doesn't really possess too much power. Yes, he knocked out Maynard, but he's no knock out artist like middleweight champ Anderson Silva.

However, when you add in the additional elements of striking such as footwork, timing, speed, rhythm and elusiveness, Edgar's stock increases slightly.

Edgar's elusiveness and speed are unmatched in striking, except for bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, but Edgar has more (although still not much) power. He is therefore above Cruz and Georges St-Pierre (a controversial decision but Edgar is more aggressive with his strikes and far more elusive than St-Pierre. And when was the last time St-Pierre beat anyone with standing strikes?), but below everyone else.

Wrestling: 4th

It seems a crime to put Edgar at fourth for wrestling but keep in mind that when the champions are involved, all of the rankings are very close to one another; only a hair's length separates them.

In addition, being fourth of the champions doesn't mean that Edgar isn't first at lightweight.

So why is he fourth? Because Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones and Cain Velasquez (respectively) all have better wrestling than him.

However, this doesn't mean that Edgar's wrestling is bad. He usually uses his wrestling in reverse and avoids takedowns with ease. Even Maynard, a man who has been wrestling since he was three—almost for thirty years—couldn't take him down.

Submissions: Towards the Bottom

Frankie Edgar's last submission was a little over two years ago against a fighter who is no longer with the UFC.

Before that, his last submission was in 2006. It's safe to say that submissions aren't a big part of his game.

Edgar isn't unique in this aspect. Many of the current champions blend kickboxing and wrestling and only attempt submissions when they get an opportunity that's too good to pass up.

Since none of the current champions have a base in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or any other submission art, it's nigh impossible to really rank their submissions. So let's just say that Edgar is towards the bottom somewhere.

Conditioning: 1st

Frankie Edgar is the most conditioned champion in the UFC. After going 25 minutes, it looks like he could go another 5 rounds and then do some laps cageside.

Why is this? Edgar hardly cuts any weight to his 155. This gives him a tremendous advantage in the conditioning department over his adversaries because he doesn't have to dehydrate himself before the fight to make weight.

Nobody can go as long as Edgar can in the cage; he is the "Energizer Bunny" of MMA.

Heart: 1st

Heart or fighting spirit may be cliché in modern MMA, but the truth is that no champion has a heart quite like Edgar does.

Edgar took a tremendous beating from Gray Maynard in his last two fights. He came back in force both times and actually knocked Maynard out in the most recent fight.

Anderson Silva may have come back from adversity against Chael Sonnen, but he doesn't make it look quite as good as Edgar does.