Frankie Edgar
Edgar has clamoured for a shot at McGregor, and more specifically his UFC featherweight title, since December. Edgar is coming off an impressive KO win over Chad Mendes and is the clearcut #1 contender in the 145lb division.
The problem here is that Conor won’t be able to cut down to 145lbs. He’s prepared this entire camp for a fight at 155lbs and his muscle mass is too large to allow his usual drastic weight cut.
This means that Edgar would have to agree to a non-title fight against McGregor at 155lbs and hope that a win garners an immediate rematch for Conor but this time at 145lbs with the title on the line. It’s a stiff gamble to take but if Edgar was going to lose it’d happen at either weight class and to have to defeat McGreor twice to hold gold is a tall task but Frankie would be betting on himself to pull through.
At this point any loss by McGregor would garner an immediate rematch, so Edgar wouldn’t be left out in the cold and the ability to make $1 million in less than 6 months would widen the eyes of even the most veteran UFC fighters.
The question becomes is Frankie Edgar in shape and ready to compete in 10 days notice? Not many fighters can go into the octagon cold and defeat a fighter that’s been training a full camp. It’s near impossible when that fighter is Conor McGregor.
**UPDATE**
If you’re clamoring for Edgar, he’s unavailable, I’m told. Dealing w/ an injury. There aren’t a ton of options. You can probably guess em.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 23, 2016