Unbeaten Weidman out to silence doubters
Despite 12-0 start, some still question middleweight champ heading into weekend fight with Belfort
Chris Weidman is the reigning, defending, undefeated, undisputed UFC middleweight champion of the world — yet there are plenty of members of the combat sports community who question whether he’s really that good.
His two victories over the man most consider the greatest fighter in mixed martial arts history, Anderson Silva, are still pawned off as fluke victories that “wouldn’t have happened if Silva hadn’t been showboating/ broke his leg” by those who refuse to acknowledge any moment from those bouts beyond the finishing sequences.
Despite the fact that Weidman followed up his consecutive wins over Silva, who had gone a perfect 16-0 in the UFC prior to sharing the cage with the 30-year-old from Long Island, N.Y., with a Fight of the Year-calibre effort in a win over former light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida, there are some who still suggest Weidman hasn’t quite done enough to prove himself to be one of the elite talents in the UFC.
“It’s just part of how I came up,” Weidman said at Thursday’s UFC 187 Media Day of the lack of acceptance he has received from some fans despite standing atop the middleweight division. “I fought Anderson Silva at 9-0 when nobody wanted to fight him, and I was telling people I thought I could beat him and finish him.
“People couldn’t stand the fact that I was talking like that, so it’s been hard for people to accept, but it’s about time people started to accepting it more and more.”
Unfortunately for the 12-0 champion, who has earned two-thirds of those wins inside the Octagon, a victory over Vitor Belfort in their long-awaited showdown at UFC 187 might not be enough to change the minds of those that aren’t quite sold on his dominance and place atop the middleweight division.
Belfort hasn’t fought since November 2013, a byproduct of this fight being delayed on three different occasions. While he’s won three straight in dominant fashion, those same critics who chalk up Weidman’s championship success to good fortune, posit that the Brazilian challenger’s recent string of finishes are all a result of being on testosterone-replacement therapy (TRT), the controversial treatment that has since been banned by the Nevada Athletic Commission.
But Weidman has a plan to prevent that from happening. “I just gotta go out there and dominate him, that’s all, and I keep saying it,” he said with a laugh. “All that’s on my mind is to go out there and make a statement and show the world what I’ve been working on.”
The “All American” has framed this matchup as his final test against a Brazilian legend; he’s got through Silva twice, followed up with a win over Machida. Now, only Belfort remains. After that, Weidman is ready to dive right back into training camp and start working his way through the list of contenders lining up for their opportunity to challenge for the middleweight title — guys like Luke Rockhold, Ronaldo (Jacare) Souza and Yoel Romero.
“Luke Rockhold, Jacare — these are great guys with a lot of talent and I’m prepared to fight them next,” Weidman offered, before adding, “(but) I don’t get to fight those guys as the champion if I don’t beat Vitor, so I’m not overlooking him.”
There will come a time when people will have to acknowledge the reigning, defending, undefeated, undisputed champion is one of the best fighters on the planet.