Both fighters will still be icing their left hands following their knockout victories at the weekend but that won’t stop the talk of a Conor McGregor v Frankie Edgar title fight from gathering traction.
Conor McGregor unified the UFC featherweight title with a 13 second knockout victory over long-time champion Jose Aldo a mere 24 hours after Frankie Edgar also finished Chad Mendes in the first round, securing his place as number one contender.
But with rumblings of McGregor’s desire to immediately move up to 155 lbs to take on the winner of Rafael dos Anjos and Donald Cerrone, Edgar’s head coach Mark Henry has been quick to start accusing McGregor of running “scared.”
“I saw Conor’s coach’s [John Kavanagh’s] remark on your show,” Henry told Ariel Helwani. “Bro, why is his boy running so bad
“Now, he has [had] two chances to fight Frankie. First was when Aldo got hurt and the UFC asked Chad [Mendes] ‘Have you been training?’ and he said no, he’s been doing a hunting show.
“They asked Frankie, and he said, ‘I train all year, yeah, I’m ready.’ He picks Mendes.”
Henry points to the fact that Edgar was able to finish a fully-prepared Mendes in the first round while McGregor needed two, as well as the fact that McGregor was submitted quickly early on in his career, and suggested that McGregor may not have the mental toughness that ‘The Answer’ has.
“Now Frankie finishes the same guy he [McGregor] had on 10-day notice that spanked him until he got tired, and Frankie does his part,” Henry said. “This fight comes down to both, when they were in beginning of their career, when both [were] in a kneebar, Frankie says, ‘Break it off,’ and he [McGregor] taps before the guy has a good grip. They’re not even made [from] close to the same heart.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRNF-xDBme4
Clip via MMAFightwatch
The right thing to do, according to Henry, would be to give Edgar his title shot before McGregor moves up to take care of business at lightweight.
“No one has ever been able to jump up in weight class before taking care of the top five, and this guy doesn’t even have one defense,” Henry said. “The guy says he would fight Frankie if Frankie took care of business. Well, he did, so he should be a man of his word and stop being so scared. He’s the one that’s been scared for so many years cutting down from 180, 175 to fight guys with less range, weight and height, while Frankie was 152 fighting 155.
“So now you have the belt – man up and defend it. Like they said in Braveheart, ‘Don’t tuck tail and run.'”
