Conor McGregor pulls the strings in UFC: Frankie Edgar

Top featherweight contender Frankie Edgar believes Conor McGregor, not Dana White or Lorenzo Fertitta, pulls the strings within the UFC organisation.

"Yeah, from what I think, yeah, [McGregor]’s calling the shots," Edgar told Ariel Helwani of the MMA Hour. "I don’t think it matters with Dana [White] and Lorenzo [Fertitta]. Really, I don’t think I’m the best fight that they want…I don’t think they want it either. So I’ve got all three of them against me."

Edgar was promised of a showdown against undisputed featherweight champion McGregor after his remarkable victory over Chad Mendes at The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale in December. However, the former lightweight champion’s opportunity for the featherweight gold was quickly taken away when McGregor opted to move up in weight and challenge Rafael dos Anjos for the 155-belt.

According to Chuck Mindenhall of SB Nation, Edgar was left as the odd man out as he is now forced to either wait for McGregor to return to the featherweight division or keep himself busy as the No. 1 contender for the Irishman’s title belt. Either way, Edgar will have to wait for his opportunity with McGregor not vacating his title despite moving up a weight class.

Damon Martin of Fox Sports reports that Edgar will be heading to Las Vegas this week to meet with UFC executives and find out what would be his future with the company. Edgar, who is on a five-match winning streak, is rumoured to fight McGregor at UFC 200 in July, but it all depends on the result of the Notorious’ next fight in March.

“But for the last three years, I’ve been trying to situate all my fights to lead toward a title and it seems like it’s not really working for me,” Edgar told The LA Times. “I don’t want to be sitting here until June or July expecting to fight Conor and then something else happens like it has in the past, and then I’m left with another scenario of no-fight, no-money.”