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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
With UFC President Dana White promising Cub Swanson a title fight with Jose Aldo should he beat Frankie Edgar Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 57, Edgar thinks he deserves the same if he wins the fight.
"For me if you go by rankings, it's a no brainer," Edgar said in an interview with FoxSports.com. "Plus Cub was promised a title shot and he decided to fight another fight before his title shot. You would think if I beat the guy who has next I would get the title shot."
The other name in the mix if Edgar wins is Conor McGregor, and though Edgar gives the Irishman credit for what he's done thus far, he still thinks he belongs above him in consideration.
"There's a lot of unknown about him," Edgar said of McGregor. "I thought Dustin [Poirier] could have been the guy to get us to know more about Conor, but he went in there and handled his business. I'm not going to be the guy to say Conor's not good. He's obviously good. He's been in there with some good guys and he's handled them, but I think there is still some unknown about him. He's a hell of a self promoter. That sells. I know that. I'm really not that guy. In all honestly it's probably good for our division. People are watching our division and that's a good thing."
"I would probably be upset in all honesty [if McGregor got the shot]. I'm not one to be a baby about anything. I get how this works. I'm obviously going to lobby for it. I'm going to make the calls and do what I've got to do to put myself in the talks. If I'm the best the world and I believe I'm the best in the world, then I need to be able to beat anybody. If I have to beat one more person then so be it... But I'm going to be vocal that I want the title shot and I believe I earned it. Conor's talking as if he has the title already. I'm not going to do that. I know Cub is as serious a threat as they come."
Penick's Analysis: Edgar remains an elite competitor, and if he beats Swanson on Saturday he'll have the best argument from a results standpoint. Still, he's less than two years removed from a loss to Jose Aldo, and that was part of a three fight title bout run where he didn't win any of them, despite being close. Because of that, and the fact that McGregor's the hot hand for the UFC from a promotional standpoint, Edgar is easy to pass on for the organization in that scenario. It's unfortunate for him, but it's true, so he needs to win, and hope McGregor gets beat by Dennis Siver, to guarantee his rematch with Aldo.
[Frankie Edgar art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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