Chris Weidman 'shocked and confused' at Anderson Silva's decision to fight Bonnar instead of him
Posted on September 19, 2012, 01:17 PM by Mike DrahotaSurging UFC Middleweight contender Chris Weidman appeared last night on the latest episode of Fuel TV's "UFC Tonight" to speak up about his confusion and disappointment at champion Anderson Silva's choice to turn down a fight with him for a bout with Stephan Bonnar. Weidman is considered the legitimate number-one contender by some, who view his mix of powerful wrestling and submissions as the only true threat to the long-standing king. Still, Silva's camp has denied that fight, citing a lack of drawing power as the reason, and up until the Bonnar fight being announced, were leaning towards Silva taking the rest of the year off. Weidman spoke up about the strange situation:
"I was a little shocked, confused, disappointed. I had actually had just ended up getting elbow surgery about a week ago ... and the same week I find out Anderson Silva is now fighting Stephan Bonnar in UFC 153. It's tough. This whole time him and his manager were very dead set on not fighting until 2013. They didn't really give a reason, but they just wanted to wait until 2013. And I thought that was a little fishy that all of the sudden now they pick up a fight like it's no big deal. But this whole time it's being said I'm the No. 1 contender, and nothing's going on with that. They're saying it's not a marketable fight. A guy who's ranked No. 2 in most the polls now wouldn't be a marketable fight for them because I don't have that many fights. But it doesn't matter. I'm the No. 1 contender. He should fight me."
Does Chris Weidman have a point here, or is it jus the advent of saving an event that Anderson Silva is stepping into the ring at UFC 153? It would seem that even though Weidman is on the mend from elbow surgery, his day against Silva is only a matter of time away, but who knows these days. Weidman has displayed that he is a threat to anyone at 185 lbs., let's hope his title shot is not too far off.
Comments
It's simple; Chris Weidman is a much, much, much tougher match up for Anderson Silva. He's also probably just about as marketable as Stephan Bonnar.
Yes, from the sporting side of it this is extremely questionable, but as most are starting to understand, the sporting side of things is not taken into account as much as fans want to believe.
I sharped you Evan. It hurt!
Evan, I'm impressed.
A number one guy fighting a retiring non contender is ridiculous...
The UFC putting on a fight like this an insult to the fans and guys like weidman.
Evan,
You are living proof that even a blind squirrel can find a nut! :)
Only joking/ good comment,
/O
dont worry homie you can get your ass whooped next, anderson is not gonna cut to 185 on a month notice to fight you
i'd have to agree with him here. Except, im sure silva isn't ducking him, he's just looking to clean up in his last few outings (in terms of $) and he knows that bonnar may not be THE most popular, but certainly far beyond Weidman's fame.. not that he's right in thinking that way, i think he should fight the most deserving., but I also see the need for him to step up and popularize a card..
weight cut down to 185 on a month notice ???
...he's fighting bonnar @ 205.
I am totally disgusted in the manner of how UFC is putting together these match ups lately. Fighters that dont climb the ladder in the proper fashion to step up in rankings. If that is the case, This winning/ranking system is such BS!! Motivation in winning and moving to the top to fight for the belt is a JOKE. If this is keeps going on, honor/respect among the fighter will be NO MORE.....
I hate to agree but I have to! If you play the game (Dana's) you get the rewards it seems.
Frankie drops straight down and gets a title shot after back to back losses, Chael gets offerred a shot at bones after back to back losses, whilst perennial challengers like Fitch and Bisping (before there last fights) can't buy a shot!
There needs to be a black and white system or this eventually ends up like boxing. The champ Jones is already turning down fights he doesn't fancy as it would appear is Silva
Drops down and only gets a title shot because he was basically the only top guy in the weight class available to fill in for Koch
agree one hundred percent as dana made it painfully aware on the first episode of the latest tuff the ufc is only interested in promoting a certain type of fighter loud obnoxious a-holes or nock down drag out brawlers. while both are entertaining it kind of defeats the purpose of the ufc to see who is the best fighter on earth. i believe this is one of the things that holds the ufc out of mainstream sports. when people see fights like gsp vs hardy or even the mention of machida vs jones two they have to say what the **** is this sport professional wrestling. wheres the ranking system what insane logic did this mismatch derive from it seems less about skill vs skill fighter vs fighter and more about big name vs big name. now we have the holy grail of bugfukery the best fighter on the planet fighting a retired guy who never even cracked the top ten . at least we can be thankful they didnt bring mark coleman out of retirement to do a legend vs legend match
i forgot to mention jones vs belefort is equally as stupid vitor has a slightly better chance of beating jones than tito does
It's not like Bonnar bypassed Weidman and got a shot at the belt, this is just a fun LHW match to save the day (in this case the card).
Bonnar isn't skipping any lines and besides Weidman just had surgery
Pure and simple...the bonnar fight is an exibition bout to please the crowd and save the card. Fighting Weidman would be a different ball game and would require more preparatoin and stress, something that Silva is not looking forward to do right now just after all the Stress related to the Sonnen fight.
Exactly, could you imagine the image the ufc would have if they had to cancel this show also. If this card wasn't in brazil then this fight doesn't happen. Look at the last Brazil card, should have been free, nothing against Rich or Wanderlei....
Be careful what you wish for; Chris Weidman, you may get it. Just keep running your mouth, your day will come.
Weak as fvck.
weidman is the next champ
Maybe after Silva retires.
Homie: Weidman.
I agree, this is 100% a exhibition bout. I'd much rather see Silva fight a real contender, but it's better than not seeing the Spider until 2013.
And while it's ridiculously unlikely that Bonnar would win, just imagine if he did. Since it's going to be a catch weight fight, there'd be no belt. How weird would that be?
All the way weird. In the recent MMA twilight zone dimension it would almost make sense... OK maybe not.
i can see where chris is coming from but i personally think he needs to fight another top 5 contender before he can be so upset about not getting the match with silva, theres another 4 or 5 guys at about the same standing he is
why does this dude think he's the total shlt, like he deserves a title shot against Jones or Silva? He talks about finishing Silva when he couldn't even finish Maia (considering Maia didn't utilize his jiu jitsu in that fight), and beat Munoz on a bad day. 9-0, ok, but that's less times than Silva defended his title. Get past Boestch, Bisping or Stann, than he might deserve a title shot.
Unless my timeline is off(and it very well could be), it seemed that Silva wasn't going to fight this year until he got word that Weidman was having surgery on his elbow and was going to be out for awhile. MMA may be a sport, but it seems that the UFC is mainly entertainment driven and fighters are picking their fights like free agents. Whatever....
Anderson only took this fight because of all the injuries, he didn't want the Brazilian fans to get a weak card. He also wasn't going to fight at middleweight because its true that he didn't plan on fighting till 2013 so his weight wasnt in the right range for a 185 bout.
And unfortunately Chris, Bonnar is a bigger name and Anderson doesn't seem interested in you until you develop a bigger name for yourself.
I understand Weidman being upset by not fighting the champ but all his arguments arent valid at all and the majority of the replies here by some called fans of the sport are borderline silly and show that people prefer to criticize instead of think things through and see the reasoning behind this decisions.
The fight with Bonner is happening cause of the injuries that plagued the event in Rio, therefore it required something special to save the card for fans like myself who have spent a ton of money to go watch it live and/or gonna buy the PPV. Thats also what his boss and employee wanted him to do and thats why his such in the good graces of DW which like it or hate is still the boss of him and whoever here has and is working knows how you need to be in your boss good graces! Weidman couldnt fight in such short notice since his just come back from surgery and Silva couldn't fight in such short notice at 185 since he wouldn't make the cut. Its simple logic and doesn't require a mastermind to figure out that the fight with Bonnar is a "emergency" fight! I for one am thankful for his part in stepping forward and I think it shows a lot of consideration to the fans!
OFC there will always be fans that will call this BS and sling some hate his way, its happening ever since hes the champion. Fans on this board are always bitching about AS this and that and betting on whoever his facing, lets not forget most of the posters here were betting on Sonnen to destroy him which shows how much they understand MMA...
People will hate and criticize no matter what, but saying that his scared to fight Weidman? A guys like AS in all probability isnt afraid of no man, who on earth can scare a guy like him? Im sure Weidman will get his shot and maybe he will take him down once or twice but AS will catch him in one of thous times and will crack him, that I can bet with you, and as soon as you get hit with a precise shot like he throws, all that bravado will go away and just like Sonnen, he will cover up and wait for the ref to stop the fight...
I love it when people accuse Andy of ducking fighters. Every time we hear the same spiel and every time they eventually fight and get utterly embarrassed. Weidman will get his shot some time in the next six months or so, provided he doesn't lose to lesser competition in the interim, and he will lose in devastating fashion.