Chris Weidman Needs To ‘Dominate’ Gegard Mousasi On Way Back To Title

Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman is well aware how important his upcoming fight with No. 5-ranked Gegard Mousasi at April 8’s UFC 210 is.

Weidman has lost two straight bouts, including a stoppage loss to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194 where he surrendered his title and a stoppage loss to Yoel Romero at UFC 205 last November. Despite the set backs, the New York native remains fixed on recapturing his title:

“My goal is to get that championship belt around my waist again – that’s what I want more than anything,” Weidman said on the extended preview show for UFC 210. “You can’t get there without taking it one fight at a time. If I didn’t think I could beat everybody in this division, I wouldn’t be fighting. I just would be done. I feel like I’m the best fighter in the world, and I’ve got a good guy in front of me to be able to prove it.”

While losing is certainly not something Weidman wants to become too familiar with, the former 185-pound king admits that it’s simply ‘part of life’:

“Losing is part of life,” Weidman said. “It’s something that you always have to be able to handle. I’ve just got to get back on the horse and keep on working.”

It’s clear that Weidman is in desperate need of a victory, but it won’t come easy, as “The Dreamcatcher” has won four straight, with three of those victories coming by way of T/KO. “The All-American” knows he needs to ‘dominate’ Mousasi in order to keep his title hopes alive:

“Once we decided I was fighting Mousasi, we were very excited,” Weidman said. “It’s a great matchup for me. He’s a tough guy, very experienced. He’s on a nice win streak, so I think this fight is the better fight for me to push myself right back in title contention.”

“I go out there and dominate Mousasi, and they can’t deny it,” Weidman said. “I’ll be fighting for the belt again.”