Conor McGregor fires huge shot at Frankie Edgar ahead of UFC 222

Late last month, the UFC’s lightweight champion claimed he offered to step in and fight Edgar after featherweight king Max Holloway was forced to withdraw from UFC 222.

“I put my name forward to step in at UFC 222 to face Frankie Edgar when Max Holloway pulled out, but I was told there wasn’t enough time to generate the money that the UFC would need,” .

“I was excited about bouncing in last minute and taking out the final featherweight, without all the rest of the stuff that comes with this game.

“Please respect the insane amount of work outside the fight game that I have put in.”

McGregor’s revelation sent shockwaves throughout the mixed martial arts world, who have been dying to see the Irishman fight the lightweight division’s former ruler for years.

Edgar , saying: “He doesn’t want to defend his own belt.

“What, he wants to fight me? I mean, hey, that’d be great. That’d be great for me. Let’s be real.

“I’m not scared to fight anybody. Come on, I’ve been doing too long to be scared to fight anybody. I mean, if anything, that would be very good for me, to fight Conor McGregor.

“I would’ve fought him in any weight class, to be honest with you. I think if it was real, Dana would’ve called me personally. He’s done before.”

McGregor refrained from immediately responding to Edgar’s statement on the matter, but did so after seeing a video of ‘The Answer’s’ 222 open workout.

Quote tweeting a tweet from Ariel Helwani showing Edgar warming up with his coach Mark Henry, McGregor said: “You are all handy bread.”

McGregor, 29, is poised to make his long-awaited return to the Octagon later this year.

‘The Notorious’ hasn’t set foot inside the Octagon since his historic UFC 205 victory over Eddie Alvarez, a triumph which saw him become the promotion’s first simultaneous two-weight world champion.

UFC president Dana White is keen for the Dubliner’s comeback fight to see him take on the winner of Tony Ferguson vs Khabib Nurmagomedov, which headlines UFC 223 on April 7.

“I’d like to see Conor fight the winner,” White told TMZ. “It was August and then September [for his return].

“I say it all the time, with that kind of money, Conor might never come back. It’s a lot of money.”