Middleweight Chris Weidman has spent more than half of his career inside the Octagon, racking up five wins in five UFC fights. The run has improved his overall record to 9-0 and established him as one of the division’s top contenders. However, in the eyes of 185-pound champion Anderson Silva’s management, Weidman has a ways to go before he’s earned the right to face the dynamic Brazilian.
The approach has apparently irked Weidman as made clear by some recent comments the “All-American” made in an interview with MMAWeekly.
“The managers they have no right to start putting down professional athletes,” said Weidman after he and a few of his highly-touted peers were labeled as being little more than amateurs by Silva representative Jorge Guimaraes. “I know I wouldn’t want my manager speaking about other fighters like that.”
Instead of mixing it up with Weidman (or any other 185er), Silva’s team has pointed to a potential super-fight with welterweight title-holder Georges St-Pierre in addition Nick Diaz’s name also coming up in light of recent statement’s from the polarizing pugilist’s camp. Needless to say, Weidman also feels slighted by the possibility of Silva going against someone outside of the division rather than face a deserving middleweight.
“I mean GSP, let’s start with him. The guy is coming off ACL surgery, we don’t even know for sure when he’s fighting, and when he does fight he’s fighting Carlos Condit for the welterweight title. You never know what’s going to happen and best-case scenario he could fight again around May. So if anything, fight me next, if you beat me then you get your shot with GSP. You’re just calling out a 170 pounder coming off ACL surgery,” explained Weidman on the topic of the long-rumored rumble. “Then Nick Diaz, he’s another guy he’d have a size advantage over, he’s another good name but the guy’s not going to be cleared till February. That’s just crazy.”
For now it appears Weidman will have to sit and wait until Silva makes a move or a tilt for establishing clear-cut top contendership emerges. No date has surfaced for Silva’s return to the ring, though he and Weidman are both fresh off strike-based stoppages where neither absorbed any significant damage.
PHOTO CREDIT – UFC
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