SPORT DADDY NEWS UFC
Chris Weidman is just a few hours removed from neck surgery, but already he’s calling for his next fight.
Weidman (13-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC), the former UFC middleweight titleholder, wants the opportunity to regain the gold and has set his sights directly on champ Michael Bisping (29-7 MMA, 19-7 UFC), who won the belt earlier this month with a first-round knockout of Luke Rockhold at UFC 199.
Weidman, 32, made his desire for a title shot clear via an Instagrampost, even throwing out a desired fight date at UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Nov. 12.
MMAjunkie MMA middleweight rankings, and No. 1-ranked Bisping has been brewing for several years now, but the shoe was on the other foot before “The Count” captured the title.
Bisping was a longtime contender chasing UFC gold while Weidman held the belt for several years before losing it to Rockhold at UFC 194 this past December. Bisping took countless shots at Weidman’s reign as champion, labeling his success as “very circumstantial” in a June 2015 interview with MMAjunkie.
“Mark Munoz came back after a long layoff and had a terrible performance,” Bisping said. “He beat Munoz. Then Chris laid out for two years or something like that, injured, then came back and got a title shot. Anderson Silva acted like an idiot, and he beat him for the title. Then Anderson broke his leg (in the rematch).
“Then (Lyoto) Machida came back, and I didn’t think that fight was very good. (Luke) Rockhold showed that Machida isn’t necessarily maybe what everybody thought he was. And then Vitor Belfort, (Weidman) gets to fight Vitor off the juice.”
Weidman was actually meant to rematch Rockhold for the championship at UFC 199 before he suffered an injury that forced him to withdraw. That opened the door for Bisping to step in on just 17 days’ notice, and the British fighter made the most of it, stopping Rockhold with strikes in less than four minutes.
Bisping took many jabs at Weidman in the lead-up to UFC 199, calling him injury-prone and labeling “All-American” as the slowest middleweight on the UFC roster. He might have to back up those words in the octagon because after completing surgery and aiming for a return to training in six weeks, it’s clear Weidman is angling for a title shot when the UFC makes its debut in his native New York.
Whether he’s granted that opportunity remains to be seen, but Bisping has made a point of noting many times over the years that he doesn’t turn down fights. Because of that, he would be happy to settle the score with Weidman.
“Circumstances have allowed Chris to look like Superman,” Bisping said. “I want to prove that I can be his kryptonite.”
But not turning down a fight and thinking his opponent deserves to be there with him might be two different things, at least if Bisping’s Twitter response to Weidman is to be believed.
Hey @bisping, you bum, are you a man of your word ?instagram.com/p/BGcQxnGihgm/
@ChrisWeidmanUFC bum? your coming off a loss to the guy I just Knocked out cold. Fight rockhold, win and we'll see. I call the shots.#facts
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