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Poor old' Frankie! Just when the perennial title contender was about to get a much-deserved shot at the Featherweight title, the injury curse struck and how!
Current Champion Max Holloway's untimely leg injury has cast major doubts over UFC 222 and the main event. Reports suggest that the UFC may scrap the card altogether, announce a replacement opponent for Edgar and transform the PPV into a Fight Night.
Converting the card into a Fight Night asks for a debate in itself and is better reserved for another article. At the end of the day, the show must go on and Edgar himself is rallying for the promotion to book him an opponent soon.
This slideshow takes a look at the 5 most probable candidates:
#1 Nate Diaz
The Stockton rebel has become the go-to guy in such moments of crisis for the UFC. The man who infamously ended the Conor McGregor hype train, albeit briefly, came out last week and mentioned his desire to step in for Holloway in his own distinct style.
Diaz has said that he is sick of sitting around ever since his loss to Conor McGregor at UFC 202 two years ago and is aching to return to the Octagon.
Dana White, though, refuted the claims and stated that the company has offered him six fights but has received a negative response every single time
“He [Diaz] doesn’t want to fight,” White said ”We have made around five or six fights in the last six months and he has turned them all down. Alvarez, Gaethje, Barboza, and Ferguson multiple times," Dana said.
We all know what Diaz wants and that is the third match against Conor McGregor that would aptly wrap up the trilogy. UFC might just save up both the returns of Mcgregor and Diaz for the topsy-turvy rivalry for good.
#2 Cub Swanson
Cub is not a happy man. The American Featherweight has openly criticised UFC's biased matchmaking and favoritism when it comes to granting title opportunities. The Featherweight is currently a free agent and as we speak, contract-extension negotiations between UFC and the American are on in full swing.
UFC 222 needs a savior and who better than the highly entertaining Swanson? Despite coming off a loss against Brain Ortega at UFC Fresno in December last year, Swanson is still the #5 ranked featherweight in the UFC rankings. He was on a 4-fight win streak before Ortega choked him out in the second round.
However, he would want us all to forget about his loss to Edgar back at Fight Night 57. While Swanson has shown interest in fighting at UFC 222, he teased a showdown against Nate Diaz.
Screw nice guy Edgar, now that's a slugfest we all deserve to see!
#3 Jose Aldo
Aldo vs. Edgar III? Why not eh?
The two legends put on the fight of the night back at UFC 153 and faced each other again at UFC 200. Sadly for Edgar, he lost both the title fights and yet somehow, managed to crawl his way back up to the upper echelons of the stacked featherweight division.
Aldo is still reeling from his two losses to Max Holloway and in hindsight, a fight against the top-ranked contender would surely be unfair to the entire division. However, UFC 222 needs star power and Aldo vs. Edgar certainly has good amounts of it.
#2 Cody Garbrandt
As seen above, Cody Garbrandt also joined the bandwagon of names who wish to save the 222 card. So much so that the former Bantamweight Champion is ready to move up a weight class in order to make it happen.
The interesting thing to note here is that both Cody and Edgar have the same agent, Ali Abdelaziz. But don't get your hopes up too high as this may all be Garbrandt's tactic to stay relevant.
The man who handed Dominic Cruz his first loss in a decade has shamelessly been trying to land a title rematch against his bitter foe and former teammate, TJ Dillashaw. The current Bantamweight Champion, though, is solely focused on a Champion vs. Champion catchweight super fight against Demetrious Johnson that is reportedly penciled in for UFC 226.
But that won't stop 'No Love' from trying!
#1 Brian Ortega
Coming down to the most likely option on this list, Brian 'T-City- Ortega. The #3 ranked Featherweight has all the momentum on his side after he ended Cub Swanson's 4-fight win streak and his title aspirations in the process.
The word running across town is that Edgar vs Ortega is 'all but a done deal' for 222 in Las Vegas on March 3rd and that the card, as previously stated, could become a Fight Night.
The winner of the high-stakes match will surely get a crack at Holloway's title whenever 'The Blessed recovers from his injury.
An undefeated Ortega (13-0-1) is probably the last man Edgar would want to face as it could jeopardize a guaranteed title opportunity. However, desperate times call for desperate measures.
