Dana White wants Frankie Edgar to drop down to featherweight in order to prolong his career © Getty Images Enlarge

Dana White has labelled Frankie Edgar the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and he surprisingly encouraged the lightweight champion to drop down to featherweight after UFC 136.

White ranked Edgar above Georges St-Pierre in the pound-for-pound rankings following The Answer's fourth-round knockout of Gray Maynard. The UFC president explained that his claim is based on Edgar's lack of size.

"First of all, GSP's got that horrible, horrible thumb sticking out there, the Matt Serra loss," White explained, according to USA Today.

"And I just think that Frankie's a 145-pounder walking through 155-pound guys. So when you really look at what pound-for-pound means, Frankie Edgar's pound-for-pound. He's the man."

Edgar has only lost once in his career, to the man he beat at UFC 136, and he has a bunch of challengers waiting for a crack at his title. However, White surprised the entire press room by suggesting Edgar should relinquish his belt to chase Jose Aldo at featherweight.

Asked what he wanted to see next from Edgar, White replied: "Honestly? I'd like to see him move to 145 and fight Aldo.

"Fighting out of your weight class isn't healthy. I don't think it's healthy long-term. I don't think that guys that fight out of their weight and fight a weight class above them and take damage can have longevity that other fighters can have.

"You fight guys that are your own size, you don't take the punishment that you take when you fight bigger guys. The weight classes are there for a reason."

Asked if Chad Mendes would provide Aldo's next opponent at 145lbs, White intriguingly replied: "Pretty sure, yeah. We'll see, though. Anything's possible. Maybe Frankie calls me and says he wants to move to '45. I don't know. We'll see what happens."

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