Edgar: Diaz has real shot at ‘spoiling the party’
Frankie Edgar: “I think Nate Diaz could go in there and spoil the party. … I give him a real shot. His pressure and volume is just tough to deal with for anybody.”
Top UFC featherweight Frankie Edgar appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, and discussed Saturday’s fight between 145 champ Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz. That fight is taking place at the non-title welterweight limit of 171.
The fight is a step in the direction of Conor McGregor’s grand plan to hold onto his 145 title, while fighting for the lightweight and welterweight belts.
“I think Nate could go in there and spoil the party,” said Edgar as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti for MMA Fighting. “And then [McGregor] has to come back down to 145. I think that’s best case scenario.
“I give him a real shot. His pressure and volume is just tough to deal with for anybody. You know, Conor’s biggest thing is range and length, and he doesn’t have it in this fight. A southpaw against southpaw, I think a lot could happen there.”
“I think he has to win this fight the same way he always does,” Edgar said. “Just, pressure. You’ve got to put pressure on Conor, and he’s got to take the kicks away as much as possible. Conor is definitely crafty. He has many different kicks, and [Diaz] has to put the pressure, get close enough to negate the kicks, and just be himself.”
When UFC lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos dropped out of the fight last week with an injury, Edgar was offered McGregor, but turned it down due to a groin tear suffered while rolling.
“The first week, I was having a hard time sitting on the toilet,” said Edgar. “To be honest, I’m kind of surprised by how long this is keeping me out. Most of my injuries in the past have been overuse injuries, bulged disc, nerve pain. This is actually something that actually happened, where it popped. I thought I’d be well more ahead than where I am now, because again, I don’t like to be stagnant too long. So I thought I’d be back training a little more than I am, but you know, that’s the way that it goes.”
“That’s kind of what pissed me off too, I’m sitting here recovering from injury and people are looking down at me because I didn’t take the fight on 10 days’ notice at a weight class I’m not even in, for not even the title. That’s kind of what got under my skin.”
“I was even enticed by the idea of taking it now. But luckily I didn’t, man. I’m in no shape to be fighting, or training, to be honest. But if I was healthy and even half-assed trained, for sure, I would’ve taken that fight.”
“[McGregor] does (get preferential treatment). But how can you say it’s not just? He brings in the numbers. He performs. I’m not one to sit here and complain that he’s getting better treatment than I am. He’s kind of earned it, I guess you could say. I feel I’ve earned it too in a different way, through the years of work, years of just doing the right thing for these guys.”