Chris Weidman: I’ve Heard Rumors Rockhold May Be Fighting Jacare
When UFC President Dana White recently revealed that Luke Rockhold would receive the next UFC middleweight title shot at Chris Weidman, the supposed booking was thought to be a done deal.
However, that may not be the case just yet.
The UFC’s furious bid to get MMA legalized in New York apparently fell through the cracks, and the idea of a huge Weidman vs. Rockhold bout at Madison Square Garden may have unfortunately gone with it.
With that news, the champ recently spoke up to MMA Mania to declare that he has no idea when he’s fighting. According to Weidman, Rockhold and Jacare may be made to fight it out for the top spot in the near future:
“I don’t know when I’m fighting next. There are rumors that he [Rockhold] might be fighting for a number one contendership against Jacare [Souza] next.”
There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of sense in making that fight, however, as Rockhold already beat Souza for the Strikeforce title back in 2011, and more importantly, it would simply keep the oft-injured Weidman on the sidelines for yet another long period of time while his top two contenders fight to figure out who deserves the shot.
It would most likely be a war, leaving a lengthy recovery period that could leave Weidman out of the cage for at least a year, something that he should probably avoid at all costs given his injury-prone moniker that earned him the ire of many prior to his brutal UFC 187 stoppage of longtime rival Vitor Belfort.
But there’s another top-flight contender who could certainly be considered in title shot talk, and that’s none other than No. 3-ranked Yoel Romero, who is fresh off a vicious knockout of Lyoto Machida in the main event of last Saturday night’s (June 27, 2015) UFC Fight Fight 70 from Florida. With the huge victory, ‘The Soldier of God’ has now won all six of his UFC bouts.
Weidman believes that Romero fought great, but was surprised that Machida took the fight on such short notice after getting destroyed by Rockhold only two months ago at April’s UFC on FOX 15:
“I think Yoel Romero is great,” Weidman said. “It was a great finish for him. I just think it’s crazy that Machida took that fight on such short notice after losing his last fight by knockout. It was 10 weeks after his fight, in a small cage, against a wrestler. There was a lot against him. I feel bad.”
With another potentially long layoff looming, Weidman reassured his fans that he’s aiming to fight before the end of the year, and hopes it’s against either Rockhold or Jacare; yet he’s just not sure:
“I’ll be fighting before the end of the year,” he said. “I would say against Rockhold or Jacare. I hope so.”
Sitting pretty at No. 2 in the pound-for-pound rankings, the middleweight titleholder is on the cusp of superstardom in the UFC; that is, if he could only somehow fight with any degree of relative consistency. Why is the UFC potentially holding back from booking him in a fight?
Are they planning on ripping the title shot from Rockhold to make sure he’s the better choice than Jacare, or did Romero somehow bulldoze his way into an unlikely shot at gold? Or is the champ already hurt and looking to take more time off?
