Frankie Edgar Believes Conor McGregor’s Never Been In Deep Water
After ending his trilogy with BJ Penn last July, former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar is looking to lock up a second shot at featherweight champion Jose Aldo by defeating No. 2-ranked Cub Swanson at Saturday night’s (November 22, 2014) UFC Fight Night 57 from Austin, Texas.
“The Answer” has his work cut out for him against Swanson, who’s won six straight bouts. Many argue that Swanson already deserved his shot at the belt a long time ago, but he’ll have to beat Edgar. Even if he does, Swanson may still be leapfrogged by silver tongued challenger Conor McGregor, who faces Dennis Siver in the main event of January 18’s UFC Fight Night 59 from Boston.
Based on McGregor’s meteoric rise to prominence, the same thing could happen to Edgar if he wins on Saturday. Edgar appeared on this evening’s UFC Tonight to proclaim that he can only control his fight with Swanson for the time being. Once he wins that he’ll worry about the title shot, and he knows that McGregor’s trash talking style is gaining him more and more notoriety.
Edgar said that it’s inspired other featherweights to speak out more, but he urged his listeners to acknowledge two simple facts about McGregor:
Frankie Edgar‘s two things to remember about @TheNotoriousMMA. “He hasn’t been in deep waters and he hasn’t fought a wrestler.”
— UFC Tonight (@UFCTonight) November 20, 2014
While “The Answer” did admit that “Notorious” has ran through competition while handling it well, he also believes that a fighter’s true colors come out when they are put in adversity. Edgar may never have McGregor’s flashy knockout power or the witty comebacks, but he’s shown an extreme ability to overcome adversity against the best fighters in the world.
He also possesses a world-class mat game thanks to his wrestling days at Clarion University coupled with Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills learned from longtime coach Renzo Gracie. Many would pick Edgar to give McGregor fits if they were to meet up inside the cage, but there may be even more that would pick McGregor to knock out Edgar in the first round.
Either way, it would be a great fight. Will “Notorious” ever have a chance to prove Edgar wrong in the Octagon?
Photo Credit: Ron Chenoy for USA TODAY Sports
