Conor McGregor has agreed to some last-minute fights in the past so this would have been more than enough time for him.
Having accepted short notice bouts against both Chad Mendes and Nate Diaz on his rise to the pinnacle of combat sports, McGregor has cultivated something of a reputation for gameness.
And while he hasn’t stepped foot in the Octagon in over a year and has yet to defend a world title, McGregor was apparently eager to save yet another UFC event.
UFC 222, which takes place next weekend, descended into jeopardy when UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway was forced to withdraw from his scheduled title defence against Frankie Edgar due to an injury.
With no back-up title fights remaining on the card, the UFC had to get creative and scrambled to put together a women’s featherweight title fight between Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino and former Invicta FC bantamweight champion Yana Kunitskaya which replaced the main event.
New faces, new poster.
The #UFC222 poster remix has dropped, pic.twitter.com/mbowetiBdi
— UFC (@ufc) February 9, 2018
Edgar stayed on the card and will now fight the undefeated Brian Ortega in the co-main event but it could have been a much more spectacular event because, apparently, McGregor put his name forward to step in and fight Edgar.
In the past, fight fans had clamoured to see McGregor vs. Edgar and it would make for a fascinating stylistic match-up but the organisation turned down the opportunity to have ‘The Notorious’ return on March 3 at the T-Mobile Arena.
McGregor revealed that he’d made himself available in an Instagram statement on Thursday evening in which he assured his followers that he’d be back in 2018.
“I am fighting again. Period. I am the best at this,” McGregor wrote.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfgvR31Hu1i/
“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. On top of the fighting.
“I am here. It is on them to come and get me. Because I am here.
“Yours sincerely, The Champ Champ™.”
