Chris Weidman Still Waiting On Opponent For May 2 Fight
Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman is still looking to compete.
Weidman was originally set to compete against Jack Hermansson in a middleweight headliner at UFC Oklahoma City on May 2. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, not only was Hermansson unable to leave Norway, but now all UFC events are indefinitely postponed.
However, Weidman is still training. He already accepted two other opponents — including Yoel Romero — but given the current situation, there is plenty of uncertainty.
“I was told last week that Hermansson is out,” Weidman told MMA Fighting. “They talked to me about some new opponent. I said yes and they said no. Now I’m just in a waiting game. I’m just waiting.”
Weidman is currently training alone in his basement and will likely not have head coach Ray Longo travel with him even if the UFC is able to find him an opponent and book him in an event next month.
And with the circumstances at hand, he would not be able to cut the weight to make 185 pounds either.
“I’m not going to be able to make 185 [pounds],” Weidman said. “If I make 185 right now, I’m going to kill myself. I’m training in a cold basement. I’ve got no partners, no coaching, no help. Once we get down there, there’s a lot of unanswered questions. How am I making weight? Do I have a treadmill in my room? What am I doing? Am I going on a treadmill with other people on them? There’s just so many unanswered questions.
“I know a lot of guys are doing a catchweight, so if I’m going to do this, I’d need a catchweight of some sort. Otherwise it’s just worth doing that to myself because I’ve done it before earlier in my career. I know I’ll make the weight but it’s not worth putting my health at risk with not too many people around to help me out.”
As things stand, it looks unlikely that any UFC event will take place before June at the very least. So it looks like “The All American” will just have to wait and see what happens:
“I really have no idea what the hell’s going to happen,” Weidman added. “My body feels good, I will say that. Just working on getting my weight down, but my body feels great. Because I’m not doing that physical wear and tear on my body everyday. I’m on the bike and I’m doing sprints and I’m hitting the bag. My body’s not breaking down. One part of me feels amazing, I wonder how I’d feel in the fight. I know somebody in particular on our team who went into a fight without training at all – he just had physical therapy – and he had the best fight of his life. So maybe this is the future of the sport.
“We’ll see what happens. We’re getting closer and closer to the fight and I don’t have an opponent. So I don’t know what the hell’s going to happen.”
What do you make of Weidman still wanting to compete during these unprecedented times?
