'Pissed' Frankie Edgar worried he'll be passed over for a title shot
With a resounding knockout of perennial featherweight bridesmaid Chad Mendes, Frankie Edgar assured himself a shot at the 145-pound title.
Well ... sort of.
The night after Edgar brutally bested Mendes, Conor McGregor needed a mere 13 seconds to dethrone longtime division kingpin Jose Aldo in the main event of UFC 194. People within the promotion were so sure Edgar would be next in line to challenge for McGregor's newly earned belt, they planned on sending "The Answer" into the cage to confront the brash Irishman.
That is, until he was intercepted by UFC president Dana White.
"I thought they wanted me to go in the cage," Edgar said during an appearance on The MMA Hour on Monday, according to MMAFighting.com's Chuck Mindenhall. "And then as I'm about to walk in Dana was walking out, he said, 'you're not going in there, Conor's going up, blah blah blah, we might give Aldo a rematch, we don't know.' I just kind of … I've never been, I mean granted Conor put himself in a position to be in charge, but I've never been there. Usually I do what they ask me."
Immediately following Edgar's win over Mendes, an impressed White said the former lightweight champion would get "whatever he wants." Well, Edgar wants a title shot, and he's not confident he's going to get it.
"For sure, I'm pissed," Edgar said. "I've been at it for a while now, I've been knocking on the door for this title shot for a while. It started with Cub (Swanson). If Cub beat me he was promised a title shot. I beat him, I finished him in pretty dominating fashion and no, I'm not even considered for that title shot. I take it in stride. I do everything in stride, I really do think I'm a company man, but it's not really panning out for me being that way."
Edgar's future could grow even murkier depending on what McGregor decides to do in 2016. The "Notorious" one has already expressed a desire to move up to lightweight to face champion Rafael dos Anjos while keeping a tight grip on the featherweight strap. This would trap the entire upper echelon of the division in limbo.
"What am I going to do, scream and shout?" Edgar said. "What can I do? Dana and Lorenzo, they know what I want man. People are like, 'you need to call them.' They f---ing know what I want. What, am I going to bother them? For what? For them to say no? So they can promise me something one day and say no the next? Come on."