Back in 2014, Conor McGregor did a promotional video for the UFC in which he assessed six ranked featherweights.
First up for Conor McGregor to spit venom at was his next opponent at the time. Ahead of their UFC 179 bout, he talked down Dustin Poirier as a ‘basic’ fighter who did ‘nothing unpredictable’.
He shared similar sentiments on then-champion Jose Aldo. In his eyes, the legendary 145 lber was ‘very basic’, ‘flatfooted’ and in terms of his skillset, ‘nothing jumped off the page’. The next challenger to Aldo’s throne was Chad Mendes, who McGregor considered to be a ‘stuffed featherweight’ whose ‘bodybuilder’ physique prevented him from being a bantamweight. He saw Cub Swanson as ’95 years old’.
When it came time to talk about Frankie Edgar, McGregor’s tone was notably different.
Here's what @TheNotoriousMMA had to say about @FrankieEdgar in 2014 #UFC222 pic.twitter.com/NIaI7g3Bth
— Ben Kiely (@TheJivemaster) March 2, 2018
Respect
Historically, McGregor has always treated ‘The Answer’ a little differently to his other rivals. Cast your minds back to the UFC GO BIG press conference in 2015. In one of his most memorable media obligations, McGregor took aim at almost everyone on stage that he had a chance of crossing paths with – Donald Cerrone, Rafael dos Anjos, Poirier.
When Edgar took hold of the mic and admitted that he wanted his red panty night, McGregor appreciated the honesty. ‘Good on you, Frankie,’ he responded. It’s also notable that Joseph Duffy, whom he has finished by pre-UFC career, was also spared of the acerbic tongue.
Even when McGregor has spoken out against Edgar, the trash talk is usually aimed at his manager or coaching team. Although, recently he took aim at Edgar specifically. He couldn’t resist responding to Ariel Helwani’s clip of Edgar’s open workouts for UFC 222.
You are all handy bread. https://t.co/yM9qFUrH19
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) March 1, 2018
The return
McGregor wants another marquee fight in the UFC. That much is very clear. What will take more dissecting is why he appears to be targetting Edgar.
The Tom’s River Native is a former champion, a future Hall of Famer and the one elite 145 lber McGregor didn’t face when he ‘cleaned out’ the division. However, his respectful promotional style is unlikely to maximise his return. Nate Diaz, the winner of Tony Ferguson vs Khabib Nurmagomedov and Max Holloway would appear to be more suitable candidates right now.
Considering how fatiguing promotional work is and how much the UFC would prefer McGregor to do before coming back, it would make sense for ‘the Notorious’ to want a short notice fight which would limit the media workload. Perhaps this latest comment is just a response to Edgar’s claim that the Dubliner was never close to stepping for Holloway to fight him at UFC 222.
