Las Vegas — Former UFC middleweight champ Chris Weidman is bullish on the state of the division he once reigned over.
Speaking with Cageside Press during UFC X, part of this year’s International Fight Week, Weidman (16-7) credited the fluidity of the weight class for keeping things interesting.
“It’s fun to watch. It’s always exciting when you have kind of a fluid division where you don’t have just one champion up top,” Weidman told us. “The belt has been changing hands a lot.”
With the first attempted title defense of Dricus Du Plessis due to arrive in August, Weidman was sure to credit the South African for being part of keeping the division hot.
“Dricus Du Plessis, there was so much doubt about this guy because he’s got such an unorthodox style, and he looks tired a lot of the time. But he’s really proven to be a worthy champion,” said Weidman. “The Adesanya fight coming up, I’m super-excited to see that. You’ve got a way more polished striker traditionally, really athletic and just great technique, against a guy who kind of lunges forward, his chin is up in the air. So it’s going to be interesting to see how that entanglement works.”
Du Plessis vs. Adesanya arrives in August at UFC 305, and Weidman will no doubt be watching. In the meantime, an old rival of “The All-American” made his was into the Hall of Fame for a second time recently. Anderson Silva was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame’s Fight Wing this year (for his first fight with Chael Sonnen), though he’s still competing as a boxer.
Boxing “The Spider” is something that would interest Weidman, if his services weren’t locked down at least.
“100%. Actually, I got calls. But I’m in the UFC still, I’ve got a UFC contract, so you can’t just go and do that. But I would love to do that. That would be fun.”
While Weidman, ever the family man, is heavily involved in his kid’s athletic endeavors these days, he’s not done his own run in MMA just yet, and is coming off a win over Bruno Silva. “I’m still training and I’m looking to kick some ass in the UFC still,” he finished.
Watch our full interview with UFC middleweight and former champ Chris Weidman above.
