UFC veteran Frankie Edgar is no stranger to earning his way into title fights. He faces Cory Sandhagen in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Volkov this Saturday and with a win, could find himself next in line for the bantamweight crown.

Edgar has already tasted UFC gold. He won the lightweight title at UFC 112 in 2010 and successfully defended the belt three times, before dropping it to Benson Henderson in 2012.

He’s also fought for the undisputed featherweight championship twice and the interim featherweight belt once.

Now fighting in the bantamweight division, Edgar is the No. 4 ranked fighter and believes that a victory on Saturday over his second-ranked opponent should get him another shot at a UFC belt.

“It would seem like that,” Edgar told TSN. “Cory is the only one ahead of me, other than Aljo (Aljamain Sterling) and obviously they’re fighting for the belt, so I think a win here would definitely get me a title shot.”

Sandhagen has won five of his last six fights in the bantamweight division and is looking for a victory over the veteran Edgar to cement his place as the top contender and earn his shot at gold. Edgar was in a similar position four years ago when he met and defeated young, up-and-coming contender Yair Rodríguez.

The veteran hopes Saturday’s fight is a repeat of that night.

“That would be ideal,” said Edgar. “You never know how any fight is going to go until we get in there. Cory is definitely a tough opponent, but I’m excited. I trained very hard for this fight, like I do all my other fights and I’m ready to go put it to the test.”

If Edgar is successful, he could find himself matched up against the winner of the Petr Yan/Aljamain Sterling title fight that is now scheduled for UFC 259. Looking ahead to that fight, the New Jersey native is rolling with the challenger.

“It’s so hard to pick fights, but I’m leaning towards Aljo.” said Edgar. “I still think there’s some things about (Petr) Yan that are unanswered. He’s very good, too, and he does have great takedown defence, but I could see Aljo going there, getting a takedown and winning this fight.”

The 39-year-old would like to stay active in 2021 and coming out of Saturday’s fight, he’s eyeing a few more bouts before the calendar flips again.

“This is pretty good for me to fight in February," said Edgar. "I haven’t fought three times in a year in a long time. If I could get three fights in this year, that would be phenomenal.”​