Alla blev inte glada över att höra nyheten att Nate Diaz blir den som får ersätta Rafael Dos Anjos i matchen mot Conor McGregor under UFC 196, inte minst fjäderviktaren Frankie Edgar.
UFC kontaktade Edgars manager Ali Abdel-Aziz och frågade om Edgar kunde ta matchen mot McGregor med kort varsel, men blev tvungen att tacka nej eftersom han i nuläget återhämtar sig från en skada. Enligt UFC skulle det ha berott på att han inte ville ha matchen och han känner sig därför mycket besviken.
Det här berättade Edgar, via ”MMAFighting”:
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. 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.
I’m even more pissed that Dana’s insinuating that I ‘refused’ to take this fight, which is bullsh*t. 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.’
Edgar blev tidigare lovad en titelmatch efter sin knockoutseger i första ronden mot Chad Mendes i december. McGregor knockade sedan Jose Aldo under UFC 194 och berättade sedan att han ville gå upp en viktklass.
För fyra veckor sedan drabbades Edgar av en skada i ljumsken och har sedan dess inte kunnat sparras eller brottas. Det är inte enbart den dåliga timingen som upprör Edgar, utan också bristen på respekt från UFC.
I feel like my integrity is something that I’ve built over the years and I’ve been such a good guy to the UFC, and then they’re going to throw me under the bus like I ‘refused’ to take this fight. I would take that fight in a heartbeat, even if I wasn’t training. If I was healthy enough, I would absolutely take that fight.
And this is what my team was pissed at. 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.
