It’s made sense in the past, but UFC featherweight contender Frankie Edgar does not expect to ever fight lightweight champ Conor McGregor.
There was a time, way back in 2015, when Conor McGregor vs. Frankie Edgar was realistic. It was the fight to make – perhaps before McGregor won the interim and undisputed titles over Chad Mendes and Jose Aldo, respectively, and certainly after. It was the fight that made sense and that everyone wanted to see.
But when it’s McGregor you’re talking about, plans don’t always unfold as expected. Instead of defending his UFC featherweight title against Edgar, the Irishman moved up to 155 pounds to challenge Rafael dos Anjos for the lightweight belt. When that fight fell through, McGregor instead faced Nate Diaz and, as we all know, lost that fight. He rebounded a few months later, defeating Diaz in a rematch by decision.
Then, the MMA superstar fought lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez and won the title with a second-round TKO, becoming the first fighter to hold two titles simultaneously in the promotion’s history.
McGregor hasn’t been seen in the MMA world since that November 2016 bout.
In the midst of all this, Edgar squared off with Aldo a second time – for the interim 145-pound title – losing by decision in July 2016. Besides that, though, the featherweight contender has remained undefeated, defeating Jeremy Stephens and Yair Rodriguez, since McGregor’s first title reign.
It’s February 2018, well over two years since McGregor vs. Edgar actually made sense. Edgar is fighting Brian Ortega at UFC 222 this Saturday in Las Vegas, and McGregor is … well, we don’t really know what he’s doing. He last competed in a boxing match last August, falling to Floyd Mayweather by TKO.
Now in different weight classes, Edgar, who has his eyes set on featherweight champ Max Holloway, does not see the McGregor fight ever coming to fruition.
“If we’re gonna fight, we’ll fight,” Edgar said on Monday’s The MMA Hour. “But I doubt it. I really don’t think we’ll ever cross paths. I really don’t.”
Edgar said he has moved on – presumably quite awhile ago – from the possibility of fighting McGregor, who is still the UFC lightweight champion despite not having fought in over a year.
“We’ve had many times it could’ve been real,” Edgar said. “It just never materialized. If it didn’t materialize then, I just don’t see why it would happen now.”
Edgar doesn’t think McGregor has particularly avoided a fight with him. It’s simply McGregor being McGregor.
“I don’t know if it’s about me,” Edgar said. “He doesn’t want to defend his own belt.”
Though he’s moved on, would Edgar agree to fight McGregor if ever offered? Of course he would.
“I’m not scared to fight anybody. I’ve been doing this for too long to be scared to fight anybody,” Edgar said. “If anything, that’d be very good for me to fight Conor McGregor.”