Conor McGregor very nearly made a late-notice return to the UFC after Max Holloway pulled out of his scheduled UFC featherweight title defense against Frankie Edgar.

McGregor hasn't fought since his second round knockout win over Eddie Alvarez in November of 2016 where he won the UFC lightweight title in New York City. Since then he has competed in an exhibition boxing bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a losing effort.

When McGregor heard Holloway pulled out of his featherweight title fight, he volunteered to step in and save the card. Unfortunately those plans never came about as the two sides couldn't get a deal together.

Edgar's manager confirmed these claims, and also asked that McGregor requested the fight be for a 165-pound title. Had McGregor won it would've made him the first man in UFC history to win three titles in different weight divisions.

McGregor's close friend and training partner, Artem Lobov, recently joined The MMA Hour and was asked about these reports. He confirmed that McGregor and Edgar very nearly came to an agreement to fight (quotes via MMA Fighting):

“(It was) very close (to happening)…very, very close,” Lobov told Ariel Helwani on the latest episode of The MMA Hour.

“It was real, 100 percent. Conor was ready to go, we were gathering the troops already, we were ready to go.

“We were planning what we were going to do; we were just going to fly out to Vegas straightaway to do a short little camp.

"Plans were in place and everything — everything was ready to go,” he explained.

“Conor wanted to fight. I was talking to him the whole time and he was ready to go and show the world what he can do.

“To the best of my knowledge, UFC weren’t really all for it because it was really short notice and it wouldn’t give enough time to build the fight. From what I heard, that was the main reason for it,” he said.

What are your thoughts on Lobov saying that McGregor was very close to stepping in and fighting Frankie Edgar at UFC 222 after Max Holloway's injury? Do you think that McGregor was seriously about to step in and save the card? And how do you think he'd fare in a fight against Frankie Edgar? Let us know your thoughts on the matter in the comments section below!

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