Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman has lost five of his last six fights, but he has no plans on calling it a day.
Weidman was hoping to start a new chapter in his career when he made his light heavyweight debut against Dominick Reyes at UFC Boston in October. However, the fight ended the same way as all of his five career losses — by knockout.
With no intention of retiring, the attention now turns to who his next fight should be.
A rematch with Luke Rockhold would make sense, especially as they were initially scheduled to fight each other last year. Like Weidman, Rockhold has also endured a rough stretch, having been brutally knocked out in three of his last four fights.
A trilogy fight with Anderson Silva? Not so much. Weidman prefers Rockhold but only after having a tune-up fight first.
“Anderson Silva? No. They need to pay me crazy money to fight him,” Weidman said on the MMA and Beyond podcast. “That’s a no. I already beat him twice. Got nothing to gain from that unless it’s money.
“Rockhold, I’d like to fight him but not this next fight, I’ll take a tune-up fight. I still think he’s good. Obviously, people say he doesn’t have a chin anymore but they say that about me too. I still think he’s a tough opponent.”
Many have called for Weidman to have a tune-up fight and it appears he’s finally listening.
After all, despite his setbacks, the All-American hasn’t been losing to unranked opponents. He has been facing elite fighters for many years now.
“I haven’t had a tune-up fight in my career,” he added. “My last 11 or 12 guys are top five in the world. I’ve been [in] main events and on the main card since my first fight in the UFC.”
Should he come out on top in his tune-up fight — assuming he gets one — the plan would be to face Rockhold. But would it be at middleweight or light heavyweight? Weidman doesn’t really bother too much with the specifics.
“I don’t know, I don’t really care. I don’t care about that, to be honest.”