Frankie Edgar has his sights set on one card and one card only after UFC 200.
The former UFC lightweight champion finally gets his crack at a featherweight strap when he takes on Jose Aldo for the interim belt on July 9.
Although he’s delighted he’s finally getting a crack after racking up five straight victories in the division over top fighters such as Urijah Faber, BJ Penn, Cub Swanson and Chad Mendes, it probably isn’t the title fight he would have wanted as the belt-holder has other business to take care of.
Is anyone really buying Conor McGregor's excuse for failing to defend his featherweight title? https://t.co/WMzFSYe2Ob
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 2, 2016
Featherweight king Conor McGregor has yet to defend his belt after rendering Aldo unconscious with that seismic Celtic cross in UFC 194’s main event. However, after dropping a submission loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 196, McGregor will be getting his welterweight do-over against the Stockton native at UFC 202, raising doubts over whether he will ever return to 145 lb.
Edgar said on Monday’s MMA Hour that he believes the Notorious is delaying his first title defence because there’s too much on the line for him if he loses.
“At 145 lbs, he has everything to lose. Even though Nate’s a 155 lb-er and they just decided not to cut weight so they could go around and market the fact that he’s going up two weight classes, which is ridiculous because he’s fighting Nate Diaz who’s a 155 lb-er. He was at 170 as well, he was too big.”
“He needs to fight guys that he’s bigger than. If he loses at 145, he has nothing. He loses his title and he has a really hard time making that weight anyway. He goes to 155 and he’s not going to be in the title talks for a while.”
Edgar then praised the Dubliner for making the right decisions and choosing the right fights to increase his own stock, which came across as backhanded especially considering he had just accused McGregor of running from his responsibilities at 145 lbs.
“I just feel he’s a smart guy, Conor. The way he promotes himself, the fights he gets – he’s a very smart guy, he’s got good coaches around him and they’re making the right decisions for his career.”
Although he’s unsure whether McGregor would drop back down to defend his belt, the New Jersey native believes that the Irishman would find it difficult turning down a title unification bout at the landmark UFC 205 event in New York.
“Why wouldn’t Conor want to fight at Madison Square Garden? There’s definitely a big Irish contingency in New York and it could possibly be the biggest fight in UFC history.”
