Chris Weidman Says ‘I Need To Get A Freaking W’ Ahead Of Omari Akhmedov Fight
Chris Weidman is determined to snap his losing streak when he faces off against rising contender, Omari Akhmedov at UFC Fight Night 174 which takes place this Saturday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Speaking to MMA Fighting ahead of his eargerly anticipated return Weidman called MMA a fickle sport after going 1-5 in his last six fights.
“It’s a very tough sport. It’s a fickle sport,” Weidman said. “The fans are definitely tough. But it’s also kind of motivating. You want to remind them. I’m 1-5 in my last six fights. But you look at who I fought and then one person I beat [Kelvin Gastelum] and he’s done pretty good himself. In all those fights, other than my [Dominick] Reyes fight, I was winning the fight. It’s just kind of the way it works sometimes.
“You fight all these really good guys, you’re not always going to get your hand raised. There’s definitely randomness who wins that night. Random things that happen. It doesn’t necessarily mean that person is the better person in the fight.”
The former middleweight champion admits he hadn’t heard of Akhmedov before accepting this fight but has been impressed since looking into his opponent.
“I just wanted to fight,” Weidman said. “I honestly didn’t really hear of him leading up. I was like who’s that? Even my manager didn’t know. Then I looked him up and he’s been on his way up. He’s been in the UFC for a while, kind of going back and forth between welterweight and middleweight. He’s on a nice win streak and he’s ranked in the top 15. It’s one of the first times I’m not fighting someone in the top five but he’s a tough kid. I think it’s a really good matchup.”
Weidman is desperate to get back to winning ways and is confident of doing so against someone he believes is a level or two below him.
“I need to get a freaking ‘W’”, he said. “I need to get back on my winning ways. I think I have a lot of advantages in this fight but when you’re in there, you never know what’s going to happen. I’m taking it very serious. He’s tough but when I look at the guys I’ve fought, I don’t think he’s up there as far as the most talented. I think that’s a fair statement without knocking him.”
“My goal is to go in there and show there’s different levels to this game,” Weidman said. “I’ve been training consistently longer than I probably have in a very long time. I think that’s going to pay off in this fight.
“I haven’t been out of the gym. I’ve been healthy for a long time now. I’m really hoping that pays off. A lot of my career I’m out of the gym, I’m injured and I’m blown up. This time, I really haven’t been out of the gym between fights. I’m excited to see that work out for me. I’ve just got to get my hand raised. I really think I’m definitely still one of the best in the world but I’ve got to go out there and prove it and get a ‘W’ and start getting on a streak again. Hopefully, Aug. 8 will be the start of it.”
Do you think Chris Weidman will get back in the win column this weekend?
