The Answer: Why Frankie Edgar Could Be Conor McGregor’s Kryptonite

December will feature the four best featherweight fighters on the planet.

UFC champion Jose Aldo, interim titleholder Conor McGregor, former top contender Chad Mendes, and former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar will all step foot inside the Octagon over a 48 hour period.

It should be quite the spectacle, as one of the promotion’s most ruthless divisions will experience a jolting makeover entering 2016.

While Aldo vs. McGregor has garnered most of the attention leading up to next weekend, Edgar vs. Mendes arguably carries similar potential. If both “The Notorious” and “The Answer” are able to capture victory, they would subsequently be setting themselves up to meet sometime early next year (UFC 198?) for the 145-pound strap.

But who exactly has the edge in a McGregor vs. Edgar showdown? Can McGregor get past one of the most well-rounded fighters ever in mixed martial arts?

It’s a matchup that may be more one-sided than one might think. Here are four gleaming reasons why Edgar would derail McGregor.

1) Ground game

Despite a noted leg injury leading into UFC 189, McGregor was taken down at will by Chad Mendes.

A lack of wrestling training culminating with a change of opponent on just two weeks notice certainly didn’t help the Irishman’s chances of warding off the scoop and slam, but it’s a component of his game that remains imperfect.

While Mendes offers some of the best power wrestling at the 145-pound level, Edgar incorporates the same sort of success but with different advancements. From quicker shots to craftier level changes, Edgar’s takedown ability can be greatly attributed to intelligence and execution.

Once in top position, the former lightweight champ channels one of the most tactical ground-and-pound arsenals in the business. His ability to keep opponents on their back, transition on queue, score points in bunches, and threaten with timely submissions has rendered him a guru on the mat.

So even though McGregor’s balance, movement, and rangy striking would keep the New Jersey native temporarily at bay, Edgar’s infamous pressure and footwork would allow him to get inside, grab a hold of the wide-stanced McGregor, and drag him to the canvas.

2) Pressure

Similar to McGregor, Edgar brings the heat. He may not possess the one-punch knockout ability that “The Notorious” does, but he presses with the best of them.

Being the smaller featherweight, Edgar’s footwork, head movement, lead strike, and absorption rate, would drastically play a role in him being able to make McGregor uncomfortable. But with unfathomable energy at his disposal, Edgar can try everything in the book to compress McGregor without ever losing steam.

Edgar’s success in doing so would not only take away many of McGregor’s long strikes, particularly his infamous straight left, but it would leave openings for the clinch, takedowns, or short combinations inside.

We’ve seen Edgar’s pressuring tactics lead to befuddlement from his opponents in the past, so it’s possible he could do the same to a fighter who often relies on leading the dance.

3) Volume

Edgar is a volume fighter. He rarely winds up to uncork heavenly power, which has given him the ability to score points by the handfuls.

As for McGregor, who incorporates fine movement, calculated patience, unorthodox techniques, and a reliance on pushing opponents back on their toes, dealing with someone who pushes forward with everything but the kitchen sink could be laborious.

One of Edgar’s most useful tools takes form when he’s on the inside. While he may have to absorb some damage in order to get there, odds are he’s going to get his hands on McGregor. Once he does, Edgar has an uncanny ability to land nearly every punch he throws. This includes combinations, uppercuts, knees, and the tendency to fuse all of his offensive strikes together in order to successfully implement a takedown.

We have never truly seen McGregor deal will a fighter who encompasses the volume in which Edgar operates. Aldo can somewhat serve as a close comparison, but he offers more of an explosive approach to throwing in numbers, not necessarily the consistent profusions that Edgar produces.

4) Resilience

McGregor has only won one fight in his entire career by way of decision, which came opposite under-developed striker Max Holloway at UFC Fight Night 26. In other words, the Irishman claims victory by pressuring his opponents into eating his punches and succumbing to a knockout.

Edgar is someone who has never tasted something so bitter. Through 24 professional bouts, the former 155-pound king has never been finished, let alone stopped by strikes. He came close once opposite Gray Maynard at UFC 125, which saw Edgar withstand one of the worst first-round beatings in championship history, but “The Answer” weathered the storm en route to a split draw.

Needless to say, Edgar may never know what it feels like to have a referee pull his opponent off of him. He sports easily one of the most indestructible chins in all of MMA (relative to weight), while understanding what he needs to do during crunch time to avoid even more dangerous situations.

McGregor’s past opponents, specifically Chad Mendes, Dennis Siver, and Dustin Poirier, were unable to escape defeat by their own doings. Misplaced blocks, lowered hands, and stiff stances are all mistakes that McGregor has brought out in his adversaries. Unfortunately for the interim champ, Edgar does not take part in blunders. His hands are always high, his head is always moving, and his footwork allows him to evade destructive combinations (which McGregor loves to throw).

While any outcome is truly possible under the bright lights of the Octagon, Edgar seems to have all the tools needed to debunk one of the more puzzling fighters of the past few years. McGregor’s power is certainly something to be concerned with, but Edgar is not one of these flat-footed strikers that the Irishman loves to pick out.