Frankie Edgar Is Sick Of Interim Title Belts

Confused about the recent influx of interim UFC belts going around? Frankie Edgar is right there with you.

‘The Answer’, a former undisputed UFC lightweight champion, now calls the 145-pound division home and has competed for the weight class’ title on two separate occasions. Edgar made his featherweight debut back in 2013 in a five round war with then-champion Jose Aldo.

Aldo was able to successfully retain his title against Edgar with a unanimous decision win in UFC 156’s Fight Of The Night. Edgar would embark on a journey back to title contention with a five-fight win streak over names such as Charles Oliveira, BJ Penn, Cub Swanson, Urijah Faber, and Chad Mendes.

Meanwhile, ‘Scarface’ was lured into a rivalry with a smack-talking, heavy-handed featherweight from Ireland. The man we’ve all come to know and love as Conor McGregor. McGregor and Aldo finally got the opportunity to lock horns in the main event of UFC 194 in December of 2015, in which ‘The Notorious One’ knocked out his Brazilian counterpart in only 13 seconds.

After serving as the division’s champion for nearly a year without defending, McGregor challenged Eddie Alvarez for a record-setting second title at 155 pounds in the main event of UFC 205 this past November. The Irishman stopped Alvarez in the second round of the bout to become the UFC’s first and only ever dual-weight champion.

Edgar and Aldo rematched at UFC 200 this past July for the interim featherweight crown while McGregor handled business with newly formed rival Nate Diaz at 170 pounds, and Aldo again out-classed ‘The Answer’ for 25 minutes en-route to once again obtaining featherweight gold. After winning the lightweight title from Alvarez, McGregor was subsequently stripped of his featherweight belt, and the UFC promoted Aldo to undisputed champ once more.

With McGregor expected to take a lengthy hiatus away from the Octagon to enjoy the birth of his first child, the UFC has again decided to implement an interim title contest between No. 1 and 2-ranked lightweights Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. The bout will co-main event UFC 209 live on pay-per-view (PPV) next month (March 4, 2017).

After regrouping form his second loss to Aldo, Edgar has returned to the winner’s column with a unanimous decision win over Jeremy Stephens at UFC 205. The No. 2-ranked featherweight recently joined The MMA Hour earlier today (Mon. February 6, 2017) and discussed his displeasure for ‘silly’ distribution of interim titles all of a sudden (quotes via MMA Fighting):

“I just think they’re getting silly with these interim titles,” Edgar said. “It’s a little too much. They’re already taking Conor’s 55 one away. I just don’t get it.”

Fight fans have long been calling for Edgar to try his hand at the 135-pound weight class, and Edgar says he’ll be happy to do it – but on one condition. He wants an immediate title opportunity at bantamweight.

Otherwise, the former lightweight champ would rather wait around at 145 pounds for another crack at the title, rather then let it slip through his fingers with a potential drop down to 135:

“If they offered me a title shot, I wouldn’t be able to turn it down,” said Edgar. “But I’m not gonna go down there and fight a contender fight and do that, not while I’m as close as I am, I believe still, at 145. Especially since we don’t know what’s gonna happen. I don’t want to leave yet and sh*t gets figured out and I’m sitting here fighting in a 135-pound contender fight when I could have been fighting for a 145-pound title.”

As for when his next shot at the featherweight throne will be, Edgar is left scratching his head a bit as the current state of the division is a bit of a mess at the moment: