Chris Weidman to Return Against Tim Boetsch at UFC 155 in December

(Stare at the space directly between them, and slowly move toward your screen. If you do it correctly, you will eventually see the face of Phil Baroni.)

Now that Anderson Silva is “vacationing” until a big fight comes along, Chris Weidman‘s hard-earned #1 middleweight contender spot means jack shit. That’s reality, and there’s nothing Chris can do but exist within it, you know? And so, the undefeated Serra-Longo product will return to the Octagon against another contender, with the hope that he doesn’t get bumped down the ladder.

Multiple outlets are reporting that Weidman will face off against fellow 185-pound bruiser Tim Boetsch at UFC 155 (December 29th, Las Vegas). Weidman is coming off of his insane elbow-KO of Mark Munoz in July, which boosted his UFC record to 5-0. Meanwhile, Boetsch is on an improbable 4-0 run as a middleweight, including an epic comeback TKO against Yushin Okami, and his bizarre split-decision win against Hector Lombard — a “guaranteed slugfest” that turned out to be shockingly dull.

With the champ unavailable and other top middleweights already booked, on the mend, or suddenly fighting at light-heavyweight, a matchup between Weidman and Boetsch is as logical as any other. And while it seems that Boetsch doesn’t have much of a chance here, we said that about the Barbarian’s last two fights too, so who knows.

UFC 155 will be headlined by the heavyweight title fight between Junior Dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez, and will also feature Chael Sonnen vs. Forrest Griffin and Gray Maynard vs. Joe Lauzon.