FRANKIE EDGAR AND his team appear to have given up on their hopes of securing a UFC featherweight title shot at reigning champion Conor McGregor this summer.
Following five consecutive victories — the most recent of which saw him defeat Chad Mendes via first-round knockout — Edgar is regarded as the number one contender in the UFC’s featherweight division.
The 34-year-old has been actively chasing a meeting with McGregor since the Irish star dethroned previous 145lbs title-holder Jose Aldo last December. However, Edgar’s patience has been put to the test as McGregor opted to move up to the lightweight division for a shot at 155lbs champion Rafael dos Anjos earlier this month.
After dos Anjos was forced to withdraw due to an injury, McGregor took on Nate Diaz in a welterweight bout at UFC 196 instead, going down to a second-round submission. In the immediate aftermath of that loss, the Dubliner suggested that a featherweight title defence against Edgar or Aldo would be next. However, the goalposts have since moved.
Reports, which first emerged last week from MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani, indicate that a 170lbs rematch between McGregor and Diaz will take place at UFC 200 on 9 July. The news has been met with frustration from Edgar’s camp, who were keen to secure a title bout against McGregor at the marquee event at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
In an interview with Niall McGrath of Talking Brawls earlier this week, Mark Henry — Edgar’s striking coach — claimed that such a move would prove that the UFC are protecting McGregor from accomplished wrestlers: ”It’s like a circus act the way they’re bringing this guy up.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Edgar’s manager, Ali Abdel-Aziz. He took to Instagram last night to reiterate his belief that McGregor is deliberately avoiding a bout against Edgar, the former UFC lightweight champion. Abdel-Aziz also criticised the UFC.
“When history speaks for itself, Frankie Edgar will go down as the guy who fought anyone at any weight, any time, and anywhere. But when history speaks for Conor McGregor, he was a UFC champion who hand-picked his opponents and chose guys out of shape to fight him… and he ducked Frankie,” Abdel-Aziz said.
“Every media member I talked to, a majority of the fans wants to see Edgar versus McGregor, but Conor’s coaches since he lost to Nate Diaz, for every interview they talk about everyone else except for Frankie. At this point I’m blaming the UFC for not making this fight happen because I think it’s really up to them and they can make Conor fight Frankie.
“I’m done with this. It’s been a miserable last four months, talking and negotiating, getting this fight to happen but now I realise the only person who needs to step up and say he wants to fight Frankie is Conor. But I don’t believe he wants to because he and everyone else knows that Frankie would whoop his ass. I have zero respect for a champion who ducks contenders and that’s that.”
Mark Henry insisted that McGregor should vacate the featherweight title if he’s going to compete outside the division for the second time in succession since winning the belt, which would pave the way for a fight between Frankie Edgar and Jose Aldo for the vacant strap — a rematch of their 2013 bout which Aldo won by decision.
However, that prospect appears unlikely. The indications are that McGregor will be allowed to keep the belt, with a potential interim title bout between Edgar and Aldo taking place in the meantime.
The rematch between McGregor and Diaz is expected to be announced imminently and the pair appeared to exchange jabs yesterday via Instagram. McGregor kicked it off, commenting: “It was a good knock. Enjoy it. We’ll see the next time.”
Diaz responded with a picture of the closing stages of his defeat of McGregor, simply accompanied by the profound vernacular of social media: the (thinking face) emoji.
According to a source close to the situation, McGregor is planning to hit back by leaving an unsavoury comment on Diaz’s Bebo wall.
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