Frankie Edgar receives medical suspension, off of Jan. 25 card
When Frankie Edgar agreed to fill in for the injured Brian Ortega at last Saturday’s UFC main event in Busan, South Korea, “The Answer” was already booked for a fight in January against Cory Sandhagen at bantamweight in Raleigh, North Carolina. Sandhagen was reportedly told by the UFC that he was assured by the promotion in the days leading up to last Saturday’s event that his bout against Edgar was still on.
UFC Busan was completely without athletic commission regulation and sanction in the absence of any real commission in the location. After Edgar was stopped by TKO in the first round of his fight Saturday against Chan Sung Jung, however, the danger of booking the American to fight twice in just over a month came into stark relief.
When the UFC holds events in territories overseen by athletic commissions their fighters are examined by commission doctors and given medical suspensions as precautions depending on their apparent condition upon immediate examination after bouts. For the Busan card the UFC decided for itself what kinds of medical suspensions their fighters would receive, and that medical suspension list has now been published by the official record keeper of the sport, MixedMartialArts.com.
If the UFC and North Carolina’s regulators keep to the promotion’s medical suspension of Edgar, it will preclude his fighting Sandhagen on Jan. 25 in Raleigh as scheduled. Edgar was given a mandatory medical suspension from competition by the UFC of 60 days and a required 45 days of “no contact.”
If Edgar is not cleared by an oral and maxillofacial surgeon for damage sustained to his right orbital prior, his medical suspension from the UFC is set to last for 180 days. Earlier in the month bantamweight contender Pedro Munhoz offered to step in for Edgar against Sandhagen.
At present, Edgar’s name has been taken off the UFC’s website as Sandhagen’s next opponent. No new opponent has been announced or listed.
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