Frankie Edgar: 'The 'C' in UFC stands for Conor'

While many fans rejoiced when it was announced that Nate Diaz would step in to replace Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 196 against Conor McGregor, one person who isn’t too happy with the proceedings is Frankie Edgar.

Edgar, who is next in line to face McGregor for his featherweight title, has good reason to be concerned. The UFC champ will be facing Diaz at the welterweight limit of 170 pounds and that leads some to believe that a run at the welterweight champion Robbie Lawler at UFC 200 could be next.

“They were going to let this guy hold the 145-pound title, go up to 55, now two weight classes are being held up,” Edgar said. “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." Two weight classes below sits clearly an unhappy Edgar, who was even more agitated when UFC president Dana White suggested that Edgar “refused” to face McGregor on short notice.

"I got a call from (manager) Ali (Abdel-Aziz) 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," Edgar said to MMA Fighting. "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.”

Edgar had to turn the fight down because he’s dealing with a torn groin that would render him unavailable no matter how bad he wanted to face McGregor. But the former UFC lightweight champion isn’t too fond of the choice wording that White used to explain why Edgar wouldn’t take the fight.

"I’m even more pissed that Dana’s insinuating that I ‘refused’ to take this fight, which is [expletive]," 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.”

Edgar figured that Nate Diaz was going to end up with the fight regardless of whether he accepted the fight or not. But he’s also concerned with how his inability to take the fight will affect his future title hopes.

“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,’" Edgar said.

The agitated Edgar certainly has reason to be concerned because there is no telling when (or if) he’ll ever get his shot at McGregor. It’s quite possible that a McGregor victory would lead to either a fight with Lawler for the welterweight title or a rebooking of the Rafael dos Anjos fight for the lightweight title. What hasn’t been discussed is when McGregor will be defending the featherweight title he won by knocking out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds last December. In the eyes of Edgar, McGregor may be wielding far too much power in the UFC.