Former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar has finally broken his silence in an interview with LA Times, on being passed over to be the next man to fight UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor.
McGregor will take on Lightweight Champion Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC 197, much to the dismay of Edgar who has racked up five wins on the bounce and was one of the hot favourites to be the first challenger to McGregor’s Featherweight Title.
Whilst Edgar is obviously downbeat against the decision not to test himself against McGregor, the former Lightweight Champion understands the business decision behind it;
“When you have that power he has — he brings in money for them — you can dictate a little more than others. Money talks. And when you bring in the money, I guess you can have more of a say.”
It’s highly likely that regardless of outcome at #UFC197 the UFC will be keen to get McGregor on the #UFC200 card in July, so does Edgar sit around and wait until then? That’s the dilemma he is facing right and now and he doesn’t have the answer yet;
“I honestly don’t really know what I’m going to do yet. I’ve got to weigh some things out. Do I want to wait for Conor, could something happen? Someone get injured? Do I want to wait for that fight or fight and make some money? That’s what I’m weighing right now.”
“But for the last three years, I’ve been trying to situate all my fights to lead toward a title and it seems like it’s not really working for me. I’ve missed out on fighting more often, making some money and that’s something. I don’t want to be sitting here until June or July expecting to fight Conor and then something else happens like it has in the past, and then I’m left with another scenario of no-fight, no-money. That’s something I have to consider.”
It has to be a tough pill to swallow for Edgar who has beaten some of the top names in the Featherweight division on his run to another Title shot and taking on another top competitor poses serious threats to his momentum;
“I don’t know if they’re trying to get me out of the picture or what, but I’m hanging in there. Before I even think about who I want to fight, I have to think about what I want to do, if I’m even going to take a fight or not. I’m on the fence.”