Chris Weidman ‘Pissed Off’ By UFC Not Giving Him Title Shot
Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman has voiced his displeasure with UFC officials and its President Dana White.
Weidman’s discontent stems from a recent decision that the promotion made regarding the UFC middleweight title and champion Robert Whittaker, who is slated to fight Kelvin Gastelum at a later date that has yet to be revealed after they coach the 28th season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF).
It should be noted that Weidman has been out of action for more than a year now due to a thumb injury he sustained during his last fight against Gastelum in July 2017.
However, that hasn’t stopped him from thinking that he is the “most decorated guy” in the middleweight division that should be enough to get him a title shot and thus, he expressed those feelings during an appearance on this week’s episode of “Ariel Helwani‘s MMA Show” on ESPN once he stated that the reason that UFC officials told him for deciding it was best to pass over him in favor of Gastelum.
“They were saying they couldn’t depend on me with my hand. They were worried about my hand not being ready in time,” Weidman said (transcript via MMA Mania). “They were initially saying they were going to (have me) fight at the end of the year show, and I was telling them I’d definitely be ready. And they said they couldn’t really justify putting money into the Ultimate Fighter show with the chance of me not being able to fight.”
“It kind of pisses me off because there are a whole lot of things that can go wrong with any fighter, so for them to put me in that predicament pisses me off a little, but what are you going to do?” Weidman said. “I mean you got Gastelum who hasn’t made weight, Yoel Romero hasn’t made weight and Whittaker has been injured, too.” There’s always things, it’s not like I am the only guy…what can you do?”
Weidman has the chance to prove the UFC wrong once he steps inside of the Octagon to fight ex-middleweight champion Luke Rockhold in a rematch at UFC 230 on November 3rd in New York City.
