Undaunted Edgar ready to take on Penn

ABU DHABI // With a career record of 11 wins and just one defeat, including six wins in seven UFC bouts, Frankie Edgar is well aware of the enormity of the task he will face against lightweight champion BJ Penn at UFC112. With 10 fewer Octagon fights than the former welterweight belt holder Penn, Edgar is also surrendering three inches in height, plus many more in reach, to his Hawaiian opponent come April.

For the New Jersey fighter, however, who counts wrestling, boxing and a purple belt in jiu-jitsu among his primary threats, the plan to tame Penn does not unnerve him. "It's going to be a tough fight but I'm excited about the opportunity and I have to do what I do to make the best of it," said Edgar. "Experience always helps but you can't pass up an opportunity like this. I'm trying to create my own legend and I feel like I am right where I need to be. I do not feel unready in anyway."

Penn's prowess at lightweight considered - a pair of TKO victories and a submission win have seen him defend his title three occasions in the last 19 months - Edgar was reticent when asked about targeting any chinks in the champion's armour. "BJ's take-down defence is great," he said. "He showed that in his last fight against Diego [Sanchez]. Will I dwell on trying to take him down, who knows?" Tactics aside, Edgar is not prepared to wait and see what Penn brings to the Abu Dhabi cage, which for the first time in UFC history will be staged outdoors.

"I'm not such a tentative person, I like to be aggressive. I've fought outdoors before, I've just never been paid for it," he added. "I'll be myself and the fight will go its own way. It's exciting and the heat will be good for me. I'll come to Abu Dhabi 10 days before for a training camp with Henzo [Gracie, who will face Matt Hughes on the same night]; I'll be in good hands."