More from Edgar on ‘TUF’ Rejection, His Underground Start & ‘Jersey Shore’

More from Frankie Edgar:

On not making the first-season cast of “The Ultimate Fighter”: ”I made the cuts, the pad work and the jiu-jitsu cut and I got in front of the Spike people and they didn't pick me. I think it was just personality or who knows? (They) didn't like people from New Jersey? I don't know.”

“I came back (to New Jersey) and I was definitely bummed, but when I got the call (to fight at UFC 67 in February 2007) I definitely think it was related to me being there and performing in front of Joe (Silva) and those guys and I think that opened the door for me.”

About his start: “I fought my first fight in the New York underground on two weeks’ notice. It was an unsanctioned event. No rules. No weight classes. It was just a 15-minute round. I jumped right into it. I found this local gym that I'm no longer with. It just happened to be close to my house, that's why I ended up going there. I was training with them. They knew I wanted to fight. They had ties in New York City and they said there was an underground (event) in two weeks. I said I wanted the fight and they said we’ll see what happens. I was doing well with guys that had been training for a while just because of my toughness and wrestling background. I conned them into letting me fight and I fought. It was pretty cool.”

“I pretty much train all the time. I feel like I was definitely behind the eight-ball starting a little late in this sport so I have to make up a lot of technique between each fight. As far as my fight camp goes, the hardcore training, the more focused training for my fight starts about right now.”

Is Penn a better fighter at 155 or 170 pounds? “He's still very competitive at 170 just because of how talented he is but if he has to go in his best position to be the best fighter it's 155.”

What he thought when he heard “Abu Dhabi”: “I was excited. I train under Ricardo (Almeida) and Renzo (Gracie) and those guys and they told me about Abu Dhabi and how much they enjoy being over there, so for me I knew it was going to be a great experience. When would anybody have a chance to go out to the Middle East? It's a good opportunity.”

Sounding Off on the “Jersey Shore”: “It's like a train wreck. You can't look away. For me it’s entertaining. I literally live right over the bridge from where they film that show. A lot of that stuff, a lot of those places I've been to growing up. So, it's pretty neat to watch.”

“I definitely won't consider myself one of those guys, but I definitely have some friends like that. I won't bring them around too often, but I definitely do.”