Chris Weidman Knows His Title Reign Isn’t Solidified Without A Win At UFC 168
UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman has had quite the ride over the past year-and-a-half. Since his brutal technical knockout victory over Mark Munoz at UFC on Fuel TV 4 in July 2012, Weidman had shoulder surgery, lost his home to a hurricane, and recovered to knock out the legendary Anderson Silva at UFC 162.
The surge has the champion at the top of the MMA world, but there’s still that lingering doubt about the true legitimacy of Weidman’s title reign. The idea that Silva lost the bout for himself by showboating still holds true in the minds of many MMA fans, so the onus is on Weidman to prove his shocking knockout wasn’t a fluke.
“The All-American” will have his chance at UFC 168 on December 28. He spoke up during a conference call for the event to declare he still has everything to lose:
“I still feel like I have everything to lose in this fight. Like I said before, I need to win this fight to solidify me as champion. I want go on and achieve a lot of the other long-term goals I have in this sport. To do that I need to win this next fight.”
That’s par for the course for Weidman, who is always clear and confident in his message. He may not be the flashiest champion but you can’t argue with his undefeated 10-0 record. Weidman has been an absolute buzz saw inside the Octagon. He focused on finishing Silva once again as his only goal come December 28:
“Just like any other fight, I want to go in there and get the finish. I want to go out there and shine and show the world what I can do. [I want to] and prove myself right on what I can do. There’s no better person to do that against than Anderson Silva. I went in there last time trying to do and I don’t think I’ll be happy if I can’t finish this fight.”
The champ has a tough task ahead of him if Silva is truly “back” like he’s stated in recent months. Even if he does get past Silva, Weidman will have a veritable murderer’s row of challengers awaiting him at 185 pounds. Names like Vitor Belfort, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, and Lyoto Machida currently populate the upper rungs of the middleweight division, making it one of the most talent-laden divisions in all of MMA right now.
It’s tough to deny that 2014 going to be an exciting year for mixed martial arts.
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea for USA TODAY Sports
