Former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar was scheduled for a title fight vs. division champion Max Holloway; when ‘Blessed’ was injured, rather than wait for the championship fight, Edgar accepted an offer to entertain the fans vs. Brian Ortega. After 29 fights, on Saturday night at UFC 222, Edgar suffered his first knockout loss, falling to Ortega at 4:44 of Round 1. Now Ortega gets the lucrative title shot that Edgar could have waited for.
The praise for Edgar’s courage was unanimous.
Frankie's career deserved for that to be against me tonight.
Respect Frankie.
Love and respect always!
A true fighters fighter ❤— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) March 4, 2018
You had nothing to gain from taking that fight @FrankieEdgar. But you took it you defended what you already earned. There’s no belt for sacrificing everything but true fans and Jersey knows no belt can outshine what you bring to the sport. Chin up bratha
— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) March 4, 2018
But this being Twitter, it quickly turned bitter.
You had nothing to gain from taking that fight @FrankieEdgar. But you took it you defended what you already earned. There’s no belt for sacrificing everything but true fans and Jersey knows no belt can outshine what you bring to the sport. Chin up bratha
— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) March 4, 2018
Oh we talking bout bouncing now?Don’t like my tweet? Your coach did. Go ask him why. Maybe you'll find what you lost. https://t.co/ekoxh7bUaw
— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) March 5, 2018
McGregor recently announced a Burger King sponsorship, which provided further fodder.
You went from King of Ireland to King of "chicken"? Looking forward to the two strips meal coming April 7.
PS Shout out to the real fighting Irish. The ones who value whats in heart before whats on waist. Hawaii respects you and welcomes you with open arms https://t.co/kqyiAw3PDY— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) March 5, 2018
The central issue is that McGregor is stirring things up, but never defended his full featherweight title, and saw it stripped for inactivity, and never defended his lightweight title, and will see that stripped too.
“He’s been throwing the little jabs here and there,” said Holloway to Hunter Homistek for FloCombat. “It’s like I said, retired fighters like talking about the past. They’re like your uncle when you’re at the barbecue and your uncle’s like, ‘Come here, boy, remember back in my day I could throw this pigskin over the mountain.’ That’s what they do. They talk about the past. They ain’t got nothing to look forward, so they talk about their past. That’s what the man’s doing.
“They can talk about the past all they want. They know who the toughest fight is. They know who the best is. The best is ‘Blessed,’ and when he’s ready to put his big boy pants back on, come to a ‘real fight’ in his phrase, then we’ll be here. There’s a lot of matchups for him and it looks like a lot of people want to see Holloway vs. [McGregor] 2. I’m right here.”
