When UFC officials selected Chad Mendes as the main event “Plan B” for UFC 189, Frankie Edgar fans—not to mention the man himself—felt a little short-changed.
After all, the former lightweight champ is on a four-fight winning streak, going 4-1 overall since dropping down to 145 pounds in early 2013.
Mendes is on a pretty good streak of his own, even if he lost relatively recently (last October, to be exact) to reigning champion Jose Aldo. And he is ranked one spot higher than Edgar in the official UFC featherweight rankings. (Mendes is ranked No. 1, and Edgar is ranked No. 2.) That’s why he got the nod over Edgar as the fighter to replace Aldo if the champ is unable to overcome an injured rib and fight Conor McGregor at UFC 189 on July 11.
But Edgar is still unhappy, suggesting on Monday that UFC matchmakers don’t display much consistency when it came to title shots and the like.
Disappointed I wasn’t the stand by guy. Felt it should of been me, think a lot of you feel the same. Thanks for all the support.
— Frankie Edgar (@FrankieEdgar) June 25, 2015
In a presumed attempt to explain their rationale and perhaps smooth the waters with one of their top stars, UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta told Chuck Mindenhall of MMA Fighting that the choice between Mendes and Edgar was essentially a pick ’em.
“It would have been a little weird if we picked Frankie and then Chad would say, but I’m number one,” Fertitta said, according to the MMA Fighting report published Tuesday. “Not that we always go distinctly by one, two or three, but both guys were available, and he was number one and Frankie was number two. I think looking at Mendes’ past performances [were a deciding factor]….In his last fight against [Ricardo] Lamas, he blew right through the guy. And it was like, you know what, he’s got the momentum we feel like, and we feel like he deserves it.”
For now, it is unknown whether Mendes will even be needed on July 11. Aldo has reportedly not been training as usual this week and has pushed back a final decision on whether he will fight.
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