Frankie Edgar’s team aren’t buying what Conor McGregor is selling.
When Conor McGregor claimed that he had cleaned out the featherweight division, a man by the name of Frankie Edgar was the first to object.
After knocking out Chad Mendes in the first round at the TUF 22 Finale, Frankie Edgar was told by Dana White that he could have ‘whatever he wants’ for his next fight. What Edgar really wanted was the winner of the featherweight title fight on the following night.
However, Conor McGregor would never defend his 145 lb throne after knocking out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds. Instead, Edgar would go on to lose a lopsided decision to Aldo at UFC 200 for the interim strap.
"@FrankieEdgar by knockout!" The Answer KOs @chadmendes… 👊 #TUFFinale https://t.co/aNZFJ2qHAC
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) December 12, 2015
Bouncing back with stellar wins over Jeremy Stephens and Yair Rodriguez saw Edgar remain in the number one contender spot. Once Max Holloway usurped Aldo’s throne, he secured another crack at becoming a two-weight world champion.
However, a facial injury forced him to withdraw at UFC 218. When it was booked again for UFC 222, Holloway pulled out with a leg injury. Edgar moved down the card to fight undefeated prospect Brian Ortega while Cyborg vs Yana Kunitskaya took the main event spot.
McGregor recently claimed on Instagram that he offered to save the PPV following Holloway’s withdrawal. He announced on Instagram that he offered to step in as a late replacement for the featherweight king, but the promotion supposedly turned him down.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfgvR31Hu1i/?utm_source=ig_embed
Edgar’s manager Ali Abdel-Aziz went to town on McGregor to TMZ over the claim. He found McGregor’s timing ‘funny’ because, as he sees it, ‘the Notorious’ has done everything in his power not to fight the Tom’s River native up until now.
“Let me tell you about Conor McGregor, he’s like a prostitute, used to make high-dollar money, but she got old and nobody wanted her anymore. You understand that’s what he is. This fucking guy. For three years, he did everything he can not to fight Frankie Edgar.”
“He was supposed to fight Frankie Edgar (at UFC 189) and he chose Chad Mendes coming off a loss. He had so many opportunities. Now he wants to fucking fight Frankie? That’s funny. As soon as Max Holloway got hurt, Mark Henry, Frankie’s coach, he told me to reach out to the UFC and ask if Conor could step in and I did call the UFC and they said, ‘Dude, we can’t even get him to fight in his own weight class. He’s not going to fucking fight Frankie.'”
This is the truth. My focus is on Ortega and they all can get it after. Anytime, anywhere, any weight class 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 https://t.co/zUDeEa79Bk
— Frankie Edgar (@FrankieEdgar) February 22, 2018
He added that Edgar would be more than willing to fight McGregor in June, after the Ortega bout. Although the fact that he called McGregor ‘scared’ suggests he isn’t too hopeful of that fight happening.
“I don’t care if Frankie is 50 years old. Frankie can be 50 years old and beat the shit out of him and the whole entire nation of Ireland. He’ll beat everyone in Ireland hands down. I’m not even talking about Khabib, I’m talking about Frankie. He can’t beat Frankie. He can wait til Frankie’s 60, Frankie will still beat his ass.”
Edgar’s striking coach Mark Henry has also weighed in on the situation. While he praised McGregor for his stand-up skills, he took shots at the Irishman’s character.
“You will NEVER EVER have the heart of Frankie or integrity. It’s soo soo simple if your dog crap post is true fight Frankie next. Weather it be mma or boxing. ( And I promise you he won’t hammer fist on top your head he knows the rules). But YOU WON’T!”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfg3TieneWR/?utm_source=ig_embed
Well, that escalated quickly.
