Frankie Edgar has revealed UFC President Dana White prevented him from going eye-to-eye with Conor McGregor in the Octagon after the Irishman’s iconic victory over Jose Aldo at UFC 194.
Edgar was sat at the side of the cage for the Las Vegas showdown, which saw McGregor knock out the legendary Aldo in 13 seconds to clinch the UFC featherweight title. It’s a belt that Edgar himself clearly has his eye on, especially after an impressive knockout triumph over Chad Mendes a day earlier.
According to Steve Marrocco of MMA Junkie, Edgar claims he was beckoned into the cage at the conclusion of the bout by a UFC official, but White halted any potential confrontation.
“I walked by the steps and Dana said, ‘No,’” Edgar said to MMA Junkie. “Why would I come in if they don’t know what’s going on yet?”
Even though McGregor’s own future remains unclear, Edgar made his intentions on a possible showdown with the Irishman obvious on his social media feed:
In the build-up to the bout with Aldo, McGregor had regularly insisted he would be moving up to lightweight and expressed as much afterwards, although admitted he won’t be vacating the featherweight title, per Martin Domin of the MailOnline.
Indeed, McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh echoed those sentiments, telling Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour (h/t Domin) it’s likely the Irishman will jump to lightweight first before potentially defending the featherweight belt later in the year against Edgar.
However, as we can see here courtesy of FOX Sports Live, McGregor revealed he’d be open to a possible showdown with Edgar if the terms were appropriate:
Edgar definitely deserves his shot. Since losing to Aldo in 2013, he’s really upped his game, putting together five successive wins with victories over Charles Oliveira, B.J. Penn, Cub Swanson, Urijah Faber and most recently, Mendes, who was knocked out inside the opening minute of the first round.
MMA journalist Josh Gross thinks not only has Edgar done enough to earn a shot at McGregor, it’d be a brilliant promotion and a genuine challenge for the Irishman:
Aldo may also feel he deserves a rematch with McGregor. Granted, the outcome of the previous bout couldn’t have been more decisive, but having bossed the featherweight division for years, the Brazilian has definitely got a case for trying to reclaim the title which he has defended with distinction on so many occasions.
Indeed, light heavyweight legend Jon Jones feels given his longstanding dominance, Aldo does deserve a rematch:
What’s encouraging about all these scenarios is that fans would love to see any of them play out. A rematch with Aldo would generate massive interest, as would a new challenger such as Edgar.
McGregor would make history if he won the lightweight championship as he’d be only the third man ever to win titles in two different divisions in the UFC.
With that kind of prestige to seize, that’s where McGregor is likely to go next. Having scored emphatic wins against Mendes and Aldo, there is little for him to prove in the featherweight class. Plus, if he can go on to be crowned the lightweight king, a potential showdown with Edgar later in the year would be enormous.
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