Frankie's Fury Points to Lightweight Debut for McGregor

Frankie "The Answer" Edgar does not believe that he will be the next man to fight Conor McGregor, which points further to the possibility that 'The Notorious' will make his lightweight debut the next time he enters the Octagon.

With a rematch between McGregor and Jose Aldo unlikely due to the emphatic nature of their first meeting, if the Irishman were going to defend his featherweight title in his next outing his opponent would almost be guaranteed to be Edgar. However, the former lightweight champion told Ariel Helwani on Monday's episode of The MMA Hour that Dana White ruled out the possibility of him getting the next crack at the SBG man as soon as McGregor had beaten Aldo.

'The Answer' revealed that he was making his way into the Octagon at UFC 194 to appeal for a fight with McGregor and was stopped by Dana White.

"I'm about to walk in (to the Octagon), Dana was walking out, he said, 'you're not going in there, Conor's going up, blah blah blah, we might give Aldo a rematch, we don't know.' I just kind of, I've never been, I mean granted Conor put himself in a position to be in charge, but I've never been there. Usually I do what they ask me."

Edgar admitted that he was "pissed" about being passed up for the McGregor bout as he always considered himself a "company man" for the world's flagship MMA promotion.

"For sure, I'm pissed," he said. "I've been at it for a while now, I've been knocking on the door for this title shot for a while.

"It started with Cub. If Cub beat me he was promised a title shot. I beat him, I finished him in pretty dominating fashion and no, I'm not even considered for that title shot. I take it in my stride. I do everything in my stride, I really do think I'm a company man, but it's not really panning out for me being that way.

"I'm not one to sit there and cry about it. People, my whole career say, 'you're too quiet, you need to say stuff,' and the minute you say something it's, 'you're fucking crying.'

Edgar outlined further frustration based on his belief that UFC are "not listening to him."

"The people I need to talk to are Dana and Lorenzo, and they seem like they're not listening either. What can I do? Dana and Lorenzo, they know what I want man. People are like, 'you need to call them.' They fucking know what I want. What, am I going to bother them? For what? For them to say no? So they can promise me something one day and say no the next? Come on."

The New Jersey native also claimed that he is "expecting the worst" in relation being McGregor's next dance partner.

He said: "I'm setting myself up for hope for the best, expect the worst. I'm expecting the worst."

Following the Dubliner's 13-second knockout of Aldo, both White and McGregor revealed that the winner of December 19's lightweight championship bout between Rafael Dos Anjos and Donald Cerrone could decide who will be the next opponent for 'The Notorious.'

Given that Dos Anjos defended his belt with a first round knockout of 'Cowboy', and Cerrone has announced that he will move up to 170 lbs, the Brazilian seems to be a likely candidate to get the much sought after bout. While there is bound to be a plethora of complaints about McGregor walking straight into a lightweight title bout on his arrival in the division, the Dubliner has more clout than ever given his devastating showing in the MGM on December 12.

Dos Anjos has previously declared an interest in the bout and given the massive financial gain that comes along with facing McGregor these days, he would be foolish not to accept the fight if it did present itself as an option. To add to that, UFC could guarantee that the "champion versus champion" angle would sell for those outside of the diehard MMA fan base.

John Kavanagh spoke with Helwani following McGregor's win and was adamant that his charge's next outing would be in either March or April, where he believed McGregor would fight for the 155 lbs title.

"No doubt (the Edgar) fight will happen," Kavanagh said. "But I think the next will be at lightweight for the belt.

"Maybe that's going to be around March-April, something like that, I think there is a possibility of a big New York card around then.

"Maybe that and then July's UFC 200, maybe defend the featherweight belt against Frankie on that card. Everyone's time will come, every will get their shot at him. They just have to be patient."

UFC 200 is a date that the promotion will most definitely want McGregor to be a part of, so March might be more realistic as far as his next outing in the Octagon is concerned. The April date that was being rumored for the featherweight champion was the unconfirmed Madison Square Garden event, which was supposedly set for the 23rd.

However, if the Irish superstar fought at the rumored New York event it would only give him a 10-week turnaround for UFC 200, a time frame that might be a little too tight for comfort if he picked up a knock against Dos Anjos.