Frankie Edgar Wasn’t Asked to Stay on UFC 222, He Volunteered
Frankie Edgar seems like the kind of fighter UFC president Dana White appreciates.
After having his heartbroken to find out that featherweight champion Max Holloway was injured and unable to compete at UFC 222, Edgar gave himself a little time to feel sorry for himself but he didn’t get mired in the misery for too long.
Instead, Edgar picked himself up, called his manager and immediately asked for a new opponent. According to the former lightweight champion, the UFC never even had the chance to ask him to stay on the card before Edgar was already telling the promotion to find him someone to fight.
“[The UFC] didn’t say anything,” Edgar said about staying on UFC 222. “[My manager] Ali [Abdel-Aziz] called me and told me Max was hurt and right at that moment I said well I’m still fighting. You’ve got to find somebody for me to fight.
“It wasn’t like the UFC asked me to do that. In my own accord, I just wanted to make sure I went out there and got someone to fight.”
Edgar says that after missing out on his originally scheduled fight with Holloway in December due to a broken orbital bone that he suffered in training, waiting any longer to compete again just wasn’t an option.
Edgar last fought in May 2017 and if Holloway wasn’t going to be ready to fight again until at least the summer, he just couldn’t wait around any more.
“I just want to fight. I got so close to the December fight and got hurt and preparing, I just didn’t want to waste another camp,” Edgar explained. “I felt like in December I pretty much wasted eight weeks of training to get hurt. Here we are four weeks away from this fight and I didn’t want to waste another six weeks of training and not being able to fight.
“I’ve got to get paid. I only get paid when I’m in there and if I’m not fighting, I’m not making money.”
While Edgar has shifted his attention towards his new fight against Brian Ortega on March 3 at UFC 222, he hasn’t lost sight on his goals to become featherweight champion.
In a perfect world, Edgar will beat Ortega and then start training right away for a showdown with Holloway as soon as he’s healthy and ready to go again.
“I still want Max, I still want the title. I didn’t lose sight on any of that,” Edgar said. “Obviously, I’ve got business to take care of in March but I don’t want to take all this time off and then fight Max. Why not fight this guy and it’s a good way to get prepared for Max.”
