Justin Gaethje has branded Conor McGregor a "coward" for calling out Frankie Edgar and ignoring him.
The 'Notorious' hasn't fought since he was defeated by Khabib Nurmagomedov last October, with his last UFC clash before that coming in November 2016.
There has been plenty of false starts in the hope of getting McGregor in the Octagon again - with rumours of a Khabib or Nate Diaz rematch often mentioned, with Gaethje or Dustin Poirier the more likely match-ups.
The latest from McGregor came a couple of months ago when he called out Edgar, among others.
McGregor told ESPN in August: "I'm not going to wait around, if Dustin does it, it's Dustin, if it's Nate [Diaz], Nate, if it's Jorge [Masvidal], Jorge... Tony Ferguson, Justin [Gaethje], [Max] Holloway, the [Jose] Aldo rematch.
"Frankie Edgar is also up there because he has similarities to Khabib, he runs on the back foot and shoots on the single leg.
"Frankie has been very respectful, he said he wanted to tell his grandkids he fought Conor McGregor one day."
But Gaethje, who has admitted that he has tried "every route there is" to set up a clash with the Irishman, has called McGregor a "coward" for picking on the lighter fighter.
“Conor keeps saying he is going to fight but I don’t think that’s true. But if he doesn’t want to fight he’s calling out the likes of Frankie Edgar,” Gaethje said to ESPN.
“No disrespect to Frankie Edgar but he’s 30 pounds lighter than us and that’s a coward move.
“The man is a coward deep down. I know that, he knows that, some of us know that. And if I fight him I get to show the world that, and that’s what he doesn’t want.”
