Edgar eyes Cruz for retirement fight in November

Former UFC champion Frankie Edgar plans to hang up his gloves after one more fight.

Edgar has asked the UFC to book him in a bantamweight bout on the November card expected to take place at Madison Square Garden in New York, he told ESPN's Brett Okamoto. After that fight, Edgar said he'll retire from mixed martial arts.

"I've been kicking the idea of retirement around since my last fight," Edgar said. "The last two fights obviously didn't go the way I wanted them to. If I'm being honest, I would fight forever - but that's kind of selfish to my family and the people that care about me. I need to announce my retirement so I can have a retirement fight and sail off into the sunset."

The 40-year-old said a matchup with former bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz - who is scheduled to headline a UFC Fight Night event against Marlon Vera on Aug. 13 - would make for an ideal last Octagon appearance.

"I'm never one to call out or pick anybody, I usually let the UFC or (manager) Ali (Abdelaziz) figure that out," Edgar said. "But I'll say a name, just because I think it's more of a legacy fight. I know he has a fight coming up and who knows how that could go down, but Dominick Cruz - he was a champion at 135 (pounds) when I was champion at 155. We were both pretty much the top of the division. That could be a fun fight."

Edgar will look to snap a two-fight skid whenever he competes next. "The Answer" suffered brutal knockout losses to Cory Sandhagen and Vera in 2021, putting his bantamweight record at 1-2 since he dropped down in weight one year earlier.

Edgar, a surefire future UFC Hall of Famer, held the lightweight title from 2010-12. The New Jersey native dropped to featherweight about a year after losing the belt and was a longtime contender in that division before moving to 135 pounds.