Edgar’s manager Ali Abdel-Aziz was approached by the UFC to take the fight against McGregor on essentially 10 day’s notice, yet Edgar had to turn it down as he’s midway through recovering from a torn groin. That’s the first, most basic thing that peeved him — the missed opportunity.
"I got a call from Ali saying that Rafael dos Anjos got hurt, and [the UFC] had texted him, ‘will Frankie fight him at 155?’ And, I’ve been hurt for the past four weeks," a fired up Edgar told MMA Fighting on Wednesday. "I’m pissed off for a couple of reasons. I’m pissed off that I’ve got this opportunity slip through again. I’m sitting here, I’m the one who’s been trying to fight this guy for months now. I’m flying myself to Vegas on my own dime to lobby to get a fight with this guy and now here comes the opportunity, and I’m hurt and I can’t take it. I haven’t done anything in four weeks. I didn’t just pull my groin, I tore it. I sent Dana and everyone in the UFC my MRI."
Yet there was plenty else wrong with the picture that rankled Edgar further, especially in how things were worded.
"I’m even more pissed that Dana’s insinuating that I ‘refused’ to take this fight, which is bullsh*t," he said. "Just because they asked me doesn’t mean they were going to give it to me because guess what, in July they asked me to take the [UFC 189] fight on 15 day’s notice, which of course I accepted, and I still didn’t get it.
"I have a feeling that if I had said ‘yes,’ if Ali had texted back ‘yes,’ that fight still would have went to Nate Diaz. I think Nate Diaz was the fight they were trying to make since the beginning. From what I hear they contacted Nate even before they contacted me. But now Dana wants to go around saying that I ‘refused ‘to take this fight, and I don’t know if he’s going to try to use it against me in the future when another opportunity comes up where I can fight for the belt, and he’s going to say, ‘well, you had your opportunity and you said no.’"
McGregor was attempting to make history by becoming the first fighter to hold belts in two different weight classes concurrently. Yet well before his March 5 date with dos Anjos he was already flirting with the idea of a move to 170 pounds to challenge for that title, as well. The UFC, who has thus far been in compliance with McGregor’s big picture plans, made the short notice fight with dos Anjos’ replacement Diaz at 170 pounds.
"And this is what my team was pissed at," Edgar said. "This dude, they were going to let this guy hold the 145-pound title, go up to 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."
LINK: Frankie Edgar 'pissed' at UFC, says the ‘C’ in UFC stands for ‘Conor’
