Frankie Edgar Is Likely to Be Overlooked for McGregor Shot Again

Straight after Conor McGregor's 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo, Frankie Edgar stood in Studio A of the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Having heard from Dana White that McGregor would move up a weight class, a clearly disappointed Edgar shared his feelings with some of the media that were present.

Just the night before, Edgar was promised "whatever he wants" by the UFC president after he separated himself from the rest of the field with a first-round knockout of Chad Mendes.

However, following his victory over Aldo, McGregor declared his multiple weight manifesto, which ruled 'The Answer' out of the question. Following his second-round submission loss to Diaz at the weekend, 'The Notorious' announced his intention to return to 145 lbs to defend his belt, but it seems Edgar isn't the only name in the hat in terms of the matchup.

"I'm going to have to jump in," Edgar interrupted White when they both appeared on the UFC 196 post-fight Fox live broadcast. "I want to ask you straight up. Am I getting Conor next at 145 lbs? You know I'm next up is he coming down?"

"I don't know what he's going to do," White replied. "It makes all the sense in the world now for him to go back down to 145 and defend his title…."

"Against who?" Edgar jumped in again.

"I don't know," said White. "Either Frankie Edgar or Jose Aldo. We'll see how this thing plays out. You know you're…you're…you're," he unfortunately stuttered," in there, but we'll see how this things plays out."

Despite refusing to step in and take the place of Rafael Dos Anjos at the same event, Aldo pounced as Diaz forced the tap. Taking to the sacred call-out grounds of Instagram, the former featherweight champion pitched his case to the MMA universe.

"I'll see you at ‪(UFC 200)," he posted, "your Cinderella fantasy is over. Nowhere to run to now, you're gonna have to give me my rematch, you pussy!"

What do u say — Frankie Edgar (@FrankieEdgar)March 9, 2016

What you thought of Aldo's approach isn't important. The important thing is that it got the attention of Conor McGregor, who appeared to have already heard about the Aldo insult when he joined the UFC 196 post-fight press conference.

"It's hard not to give Aldo another go," he said after acknowledging his post. "He was 10 years undefeated. But again, he pulls out a lot. He doesn't show up. Frankie, at least, gets in there and competes. I don't know. I'll keep my ear to the ground and see who the fans want to see the most."

We cannot doubt McGregor's attitude to taking on all comers after his refusal to pull out of multiple contests less than two weeks from fight night, despite losing his original opponent. However, it is likely that UFC will steady the ship of McGregor with a rematch against Aldo, a man who he has already faced and beaten, rather than put him into a bout with Edgar–a man marked out a bad matchup for the Irishman many moons ago.

And it's not like a rematch with Aldo is anyway a given victory for McGregor, it's simply that his proven track record against him makes it a bit less of a risk for UFC. Although it would be unlikely that it would end as quickly as the 13-second exchange back in December, the psychological edge a fighter carries over an opponent that he has previously beaten has proven a very powerful tool in the past. Given how emphatic the SBG fighter's win was over the fallen featherweight king, it's hard to believe it would have no impact on a rematch at all.

Adding some spice to the Aldo talk, McGregor's head coach John Kavanagh marked the Brazilian out as the man that he would like to see McGregor face in his next outing.

"Me personally, maybe the Aldo rematch, I'd like to see that again," said Kavanagh on The MMA Hour this week, as transcribed by MMAFighting.com.

"I just think the first one was great for us, but it was a little bit unfulfilling…a little bit. I think Aldo has a fantastic set of skills, he was a great champion and I didn't think that quite closed the chapter on that. So, (let's) see a proper fight.

"I think stylistically it would be a very nice fight to watch and a very good challenge. So that's my personal opinion, but like I said, I'm not the decision-maker on that."

McGregor's next move is massive, not only for him, but for UFC. While his defeat to Nate Diaz has not seemed to affect his popularity, it had definite implications on what the promotion had planned for UFC 200.

Had McGregor beaten Diaz, it opened him up to two title fights–one with Lawler at welterweight, one with Dos Anjos at lightweight–but having cleverly kept his featherweight title in play, 'The Notorious' also managed to keep his championship status.

Although White has since suggested that McGregor wants to fight before UFC 200, it is highly unlikely they will risk the Dubliner again. As we continue to countdown towards the date, despite White claiming both Edgar and Aldo are both in the race for McGregor's title shot, it seems more and more likely that the Nova Uniao man will get the nod.

Let's see if that Freddy Krueger inspired video can sway it back in Edgar's favor…