He may not be calling all the shots but most shots that the UFC are calling is done with Conor McGregor in mind.
There has never been a fighter with such power over the promotion than ‘The Notorious’ and his ability to seemingly do what he wants is a source of frustration for top featherweight contender Frankie Edgar.
The UFC allowed McGregor to immediately move up to lightweight to challenge for Rafael dos Anjos’ title at UFC 196 before the Brazilian got injured. The card will now be headlined by a welterweight clash between McGregor and #5 ranked lightweight Nate Diaz.
“And this is what my team was pissed at,” Edgar told MMAFighting. “This dude, they were going to let this guy hold the 145-pound title, go up to [1]55, now two weight classes are being held up.
“And now they’re saying he’s going to go up to 70. This is a circus. The ‘C’ in UFC stands for Conor. This guy runs the show.”
Edgar believes it’s unfair that there can be no featherweight title fights until Conor McGregor is ready to move back down to 145 lbs and ‘The Answer’ doesn’t believe he’ll ever get the shot at the Irishman at featherweight.
“I don’t think at 145,” he continued. “I think maybe if I go to up to 155 or something. And that’s another thing. They’ve been telling me for years, we don’t want you to fight at 55, we don’t want you to fight at 155…but oh, you want to fight Conor McGregor on 10 days notice at 155? Sure, well go ahead, jump in. It’s ridiculous. If they believe in Conor so much, let me fight him at 145 and give me a full f*cking camp. And I know I’d take that belt home with me.
“I don’t know if he’s not interested in the fight, or if he’s not interested in the weight cut. If the weight cut is the problem, you can’t fight 45 no more. It’s over. Go move up if you want to. And that’s no problem, it’s not his fault, it is what it is. But there’s no reason he should keep the belt hostage.”
