Chris Weidman News

Drake Riggs - August 16, 2018

As UFC 230 began to stack up last month, it did so with a plethora of awesome top 10 middleweight matchups. One of which included a rematch between former champions. Late in July, it was reported that the second encounter between Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman was in the works for the New York City return on November 3rd.

Tom Taylor - August 2, 2018

Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman was hoping that he would get the next shot at reigning champion Robert Whittaker. Whittaker himself also seemed to be on board with this plan. Unfortunately for Weidman, the next middleweight title shot will instead go to Kelvin Gastelum — who he defeated in his last fight. Whittaker and Gastelum, both Ultimate Fighter winners, will coach the next season of the show against one another, and meet in a title fight thereafter. Weidman, meanwhile, is scheduled for a rematch with Luke Rockhold — the man who ended his title reign — at UFC 230 in New York.

Drake Riggs - July 23, 2018

UFC 230 looks to be getting another high-level middleweight affair. And it’s safe to say that no one really saw it coming. Former middleweight champions of the UFC, Luke Rockhold, and Chris Weidman were to initially have their rematch at UFC 199 in 2016. Unfortunately for Weidman, he would get injured out of the bout thus costing him his chance at regaining the gold.

Tom Taylor - June 14, 2018

Now that Robert Whittaker has defeated Yoel Romero for a second time — he did so by decision in the main event of UFC 225 — there are two clear frontrunners in the race to the next middleweight title shot. One is former middleweight champion Chris Weidman. The other is streaking contender Kelvin Gastelum. Weidman believes he deserves the next middleweight title shot because he submitted Kelvin Gastelum in his last fight. He also believes that his accolades as a former middleweight champion — with three defenses to his name — outweigh his three recent losses to Luke Rockhold, Romero and Gegard Mousasi.

Tom Taylor - April 4, 2018

Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman has not fought since his July 2017 defeat of Kelvin Gastelum. The reason for this prolonged absence is a complicated thumb injury that he sustained during the fight. Unfortunately, Weidman’s thumb is still not healthy. Far from it, in fact.

Justin Golightly - February 14, 2018

Everyone is still talking about Yoel Romero’s finish — and his post-fight kiss — of Luke Rockhold from UFC 221. Despite missing weight, the consensus seems that he’ll still get the title shot against Robert Whittaker. After already being fined and losing out on a win bonus, he has been punished and did win the fight. It’s hard to argue who else would be deserving of a shot, but former champion Chris Weidman thinks it is him. Michael Bisping had a chuckle over it and broke down the fight he believes the UFC will do. “You know what’s funny? Chris Weidman, he’s saying that he should get a title shot. I think that’s kind of laughable, Chris. I don’t want to get into a whole beef with Chris Weidman, but you did get knocked out in three of your last four fights. I don’t think that makes you eligible for a title shot. I don’t think he has any case to get a title shot. I think the correct fight — and Dana [White] has announced — [is] Yoel Romero versus Robert Whittaker. I think that’s going to be a different fight. That fight was only six months ago, something like that.

Tom Taylor - February 12, 2018

Last weekend, in the main event of UFC 221, former Olympic silver medalist Yoel Romero knocked out former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold. With this win, Romero is believed to have earned himself a crack at reigning UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. Not everybody, however, believes he deserves this chance, as he lost a decision to Whittaker just last year. File former champ Chris Weidman into this group. While Weidman was impressed with Romero’s win, he believes he’s got a bit more work to do before earning a rematch with Whittaker. In his eyes, he himself is more deserving of the next middleweight title shot.

Tom Taylor - February 5, 2018

For a time, Anderson Silva stood out as the greatest mixed martial artist alive. Eventually, however, his reign was brought to an abrupt and violent halt by a young Chris Weidman, who defeated him first by second-round knockout, and then again as the result of a brutal leg injury. Yet even after his losses to Weidman, Silva remained a frontrunner for MMA’s Greatest of All Time title. Sure, he seemed to be on a career downslide, but his remarkable accomplishments seemed to be ironclad.

Tom Taylor - January 31, 2018

Next weekend, in the main event of UFC 221 in Perth, Australia, former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champ Luke Rockhold will battle Yoel Romero for the UFC interim middleweight title. Originally, Rockhold was expected to battle undisputed champion Robert Whittaker on the card, but he still stands to win UFC gold all the same. Long-time middleweight contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza doesn’t feel this is right. ”They are always complicating things for me,” Souza told MMAFighting of the title situation at middleweight. “[Luke] Rockhold just beat David Branch, who came from another promotion, and is fighting for the belt. The criteria is different with me, I always have to fight one more time. I honestly think that I have to fight one more, but why only me? Rockhold just beat Branch, man, and is fighting for an interim belt? Do you get what I’m saying?”

Drake Riggs - January 18, 2018

Justin Golightly - November 14, 2017

There is finally some movement going down in the middleweight division after being in a log jam. Robert Whittaker was able to capture an interim UFC middleweight title. After that, Georges St-Pierre swooped in out of nowhere and became the new champ after submitting Michael Bisping. Meanwhile, fighters like Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero are waiting to see how everything shakes up. Chris Weidman won’t be joining them at least until sometime next year though, but he doesn’t think the division is unclogged yet. “You have [Georges St-Pierre] possibly fighting [Robert] Whittaker, but no one really believes that’s going to happen — even though Dana White is swearing up and down about it. There’s just no certainty about who’s going to be champion in the next year in the UFC. Who am I going to be able to take the belt from? I guarantee you it’s not gonna be ‘GSP.’ [St-Pierre’s next opponent will be Tyron Woodley] or if they really sell out, Conor McGregor. [St-Pierre] does find a way to outsmart people. I’ll never underestimate ‘GSP.’ He’s proved time and time again how good he really is and as much as I might think, looking how the other guys in the middleweight division are bigger and stronger and have different things than him, I won’t underestimate ‘GSP.’ He can do it all.”

Tom Taylor - October 29, 2017

Last night, on the undercard of the UFC’s action-packed stop in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu ace Antonio Carlos Junior picked up a dominant, first-round submission win over Jack Marshman. While this win dazzled those watching live in Brazil and on screens around the world, it’s just what the Brazilian himself expected. “I said before [in] the interviews, man, I’m going to submit the guy – he’s never been submitted before – in the first round,” Carlos Junior told MMAJunkie.com of this big win. “And I just did it. So I’m really happy. I’m not even in my prime.”

Justin Golightly - September 2, 2017

In November, Georges St-Pierre and Michael Bisping will fight for the middleweight title at Madison Square Garden while others in the division wait. With two wins in Chris Weidman’s last five fights, combined with his division’s title picture, Weidman is looking for other options. Weidman mentioned last month that he was thinking about a move to light heavyweight, but yesterday he talked more about the potential jump. It looks like this is something he’s seriously considering. “If 185’s not somewhere I’m going to fight for the title in the next two years or a year and a a half… who knows? If I do everything right, that’s just crazy to me. Who knows… 205 [pounds], we’ll see. I mean I’m open. I just want the belt. I would definitely consider it. I think I would be good at 205, but it would have to be the right thing. It would have to be where I know to find my way to the title. I’m not looking to fight just to fight. I want the belt. If there’s a clear path at 205, then that’s where I’ll head.”

Justin Golightly - August 18, 2017

The former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman is in a sort of limbo right now. He broke his losing streak by beating Kelvin Gastelum and you’d think he’d be on his way back towards that title, but his path isn’t that clear. He’s keeping his eye on a rematch with Luke Rockhold, but keeping a move to light heavyweight in his back pocket in case it’s a shorter line to the title. Meanwhile, on the outer fringes of the sport, Weidman thinks that Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather’s paths are much clearer. Not only that, but Weidman believes we’ve not seen the last of them by a long shot. “Yeah, I mean I think I have [McGregor] winning now. I think he’s gonna win. That’s my last prediction. Third-round knockout. It’s just a gut feeling, just I’m feeling it. I think it’s gonna happen and then they’re going to have a second fight, Mayweather’s gonna win that and then next thing you know they got a Conor verses Floyd trilogy, and everybody’s spent 300 bucks, which means 500 million for each of them.” — Chris Weidman via Submission Radio.

Justin Golightly - August 17, 2017

After suffering three straight losses to the top of the division’s heap, Chris Weidman finally secured a win over Kelvin Gastelum. The luck of the All-American may be looking up, but the outlook of the UFC’s middlweight division he calls home is still murky. Georges St-Pierre swooped down like some MMA super hero and cut everybody in line to fight Michael Bisping. With an already arduous path back to title contention, Weidman is getting together a contingency plan and thinks he found a short cut to another UFC belt by moving up. That’s right, Weidman could move up to light heavyweight. “Yeah, definitely there has to be a clear picture. Like I said, my goal is to be the champ and there’s no way of me getting to have the belt for two years or more just based on other people taking their time with taking fights. It’s a weird place to be, it’s not interesting. I mean, if 185 doesn’t like, things don’t change, I want to maybe think about possibly going to 205. So we’ll see.”

Justin Golightly - August 10, 2017

As much as MMA is always about bitter rivalries, with or without wolf tickets, it’s also about bromance. Think about all the iconic images this sport has given to us that celebrate the love between fighters: BJ Penn clutching onto Matt Hughes while riding on a motorcycle, Nick and Nate Diaz scowling in unison, Wanderlei Silva overjoyed in the arms of Shogun Rua, it goes on and on. Chris Weidman and Aljamain Sterling just added to this rich history while spitting some bars.

bjpenndotcom - July 26, 2017

This past weekend, former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman picked up a much needed win as he defeated Kelvin Gastelum via submission to snap a 3-fight skid that saw ‘The All American’ go winless for two years. Following the win, Weidman called for a fight with middleweight champion Michael Bisping in his post-fight Octagon interview. He then called out the champ on social media in the days following the fight, mocking Bisping for having a crossed eye, an injury sustained during a fight. Bisping shot back, understandably mad that a fight injury was the root of Weidman’s insult.

bjpenndotcom - July 25, 2017

This past weekend in New York, former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman managed to snap a 3-fight losing streak as he picked up an impressive, and much needed, win over Kelvin Gastelum. The win was an impressive one for Weidman, who lost the middleweight title to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194, before then dropping two more KO/TKO losses at the hands of Yoel Romero and Gegard Mousasi. The fight was Weidman’s third in his home-state of New York, however it was the first time he had been able to have his hand raised in front of his home-state fans. Weidman took to social media to reflect on what could potentially be the most memorable win of his career: