Photo | Former UFC champ Chris Weidman appears to be in phenomenal shape ahead of middleweight return

Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman appears to be in phenomenal shape ahead of his middleweight return against Omari Akhmedov.

Weidman takes on Akhmedov on August 8 at a UFC event that is set for the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. Weidman was originally set to take on Jack Hermansson at UFC Oklahoma City in May, but that card fell apart due to the coronavirus pandemic. Weidman instead will now take on Akhmedov in what is essentially a must-win fight this August.

Ahead of his fight against Akhmedov, Weidman has shared some photos of him in training camp with Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. Take a look at them below via Twitter.

We are out here working at @upstate_karate with my brotha @wonderboymma ! 4 weeks and counting till my fight on August 8th ! Excited to make a splash in the MW division! Been way too long ! pic.twitter.com/48ZUyk21r0

— Chris Weidman (@chrisweidman) July 15, 2020

Chris Weidman: We are out here working at @upstate_karate with my brotha @wonderboymma ! 4 weeks and counting till my fight on August 8th ! Excited to make a splash in the MW division! Been way too long !

For Weidman, he is looking to get back into the win column for the first time since July 2017 when he submitted Kelvin Gastelum. Weidman has only fought twice since then, suffering knockout losses to Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Dominick Reyes. Overall, Weidman has lost five of his last six fights, with all five of those losses coming by knockout. It has certainly been a rough run as of late for the former UFC middleweight champion.

For this fight against Akhmedov, it’s clear that Weidman needs to pick up the win. Although Weidman is a former UFC champion and is the man who dethroned Anderson Silva back in 2013, the run he has been on as of late has been brutal. For most fighters, it’s the type of run that would have resulted in them being released by the UFC, but for Weidman, he obviously gets a bit more rope since he’s a former UFC champion.

Having said that, this is not going to be an easy fight for Weidman whatsoever. Akhmedov is a top-15 ranked middleweight and is one of the most underrated fighters in the entire division as he is unbeaten over his last six fights. Akhmedov is not a household name by any means, but he is a powerful, tough fighter who presents many challenges to Weidman at this point in his career. It will certainly be interesting to see which direction the sports bettors take the betting line ahead of this matchup at the UFC Apex.

Do you think Chris Weidman will defeat Omari Akhmedov?