UFC’s Cub Swanson ‘baffled’ by Ortega’s KO of Frankie Edgar

Cub Swanson was shocked when Brian Ortega KO’d Frankie Edgar at UFC 222.

Not like this.

No one really expected Brian Ortega, a submission artist known for his come from behind wins, to brutally KO Frankie Edgar in the first round of the UFC 222 co-main event.

Even Cub Swanson, who has fought - and lost - to both Ortega and Edgar didn’t expect to see a veteran like Edgar dropped and finished in the first round by an upcoming featherweight contender.

In fact, Swanson was ‘baffled’ with the way things played out earlier this month at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“I was just baffled,” Swanson told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, per MMA Fighting’s Marc Raimondi. “I thought Frankie would just take him down and beat him up on the ground and do what he does. But I think [Edgar] feared his grappling a little too much. I think Frankie has good grappling. I was kind of surprised at that and he made it into a striking match. Neither one of them was really fighting their game.”

Ortega, 27, smashed Edgar with a right uppercut and followed up with a couple of heavy ground strikes, cementing himself as the next challenger to Max Holloway’s featherweight throne.

Instead of sitting out and recovering, ‘The Answer’ will spring back into action against Swanson at UFC Fight Night 128 on April 21, and ‘Killer’ Cub was surprised when he received the call from the UFC.

“Yeah, I am surprised,” Swanson said. “But I mean, a lot of times fighters feel like they don’t have a good performance and they just want to get right back in there and make it right. It happens.

“A lot of people would say it’s a mistake. I’ve heard people saying on social media that it is. But I mean, they’re only gonna say that unless he comes out and looks great.”

Swanson, who was submitted by Ortega in December with a vice-like guillotine choke, was battling a viral infection heading into the bout and says the submission only made matters worse.

“He cranked it so hard,” Swanson said of Ortega’s guillotine choke. “I didn’t have a voice for maybe a month after the fight. It was still bothering me.”

Swanson will not be underestimating Edgar heading into UFC Fight Night 128 and says he owes the former lightweight champion one after their last scrap in Austin, Texas.

“Frankie is Frankie,” he said. “Everybody gets caught. I’m not gonna go in there thinking like that… He gave me just a straight ass kicking. I owe him one.”

UFC Fight Night 128, which features an exciting headlining bout between Edson Barboza and Kevin Lee, takes place next month, April 21 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.