Anderson Silva-Chris Weidman Targeted For July By The UFC

[No More Sorrow]

TORRANCE, Calif. – Chris Weidman (9-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) appears as though he'll get his long-desired title shot with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (33-4 MMA, 16-0 UFC), and if everything goes to plan, it'll go down in July.

UFC President Dana White today confirmed the possibility, which Tatame.com first reported earlier today.


If booked the fight likely would likely headline the UFC's traditional pay-per-view offering on Independence Day weekend in Las Vegas. The likely date would be July 6.


"That's what we want, but no, we don't have it yet," White said today of the fight. "We've been talking (with Silva). It's not done, but we'll get it done."


Weidman has long campaigned for the fight, and though officials initially appeared they'd go another direction, White ultimately relented earlier this month and said he'd likely be next for the champion.


Weidman's title hopes recently got a boost when fellow contender Michael Bisping suffered a loss to Vitor Belfort, which cost the Brit a promised a title shot. But Weidman, a former NCAA Division I All-American wrestler, has put together a worthy body of work, including a perfect 9-0 record and wins over UFC notables such as Mark Munoz and Demian Maia.


He'd face what is clearly his biggest test yet in Silva, who's emerged as arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history with 17 consecutive wins, 16 straight UFC victories and 10 successful title defenses. Most recently, he followed a title win over Chael Sonnen with a non-title victory over Stephan Bonnar in a 205-pound non-title fight in this past October's UFC 153 headliner.

These announcements mean next to nothing at this point, so we'll have to wait and see a little while longer.

 

[Dale]

Hope it happens and Silva smashes him and derails this Weidman hype train

 

[The Cork]

This is as close to a warm up fight as you can get.

 

[Slim]

Weidman? Really? Come onnnnn man. The guy has done nothing.

 

[Big Red Jericho Punk]

I'm happy to be the lone wolf in cheering for Weidman. I rather see him than Bisping get knocked out in 2 minutes. Belfort would be a better option, but I don't think Belfort wants to fight for the middleweight title. Other than Belfort, nobody deserves it more than Weidman.

 

[Nerotheory]

Not a fight we want to see but might as well give it to him. Plus hes the last man standing by default cause everyone elses has been losing.

 

[Deezy]

I'm going to agree with Dan Henderson, Anderson does pick opponents, now that he is left without people he could draw money with, he is stuck with this nobody.

Would rather see Anderson drop the belt and take a run at 205 ever since 09.

I'm going to agree with Dan Henderson, Anderson does pick opponents, now that he is left without people he could draw money with, he is stuck with this nobody.

Would rather see Anderson drop the belt and take a run at 205 ever since 09.

 

[The Cork]

Not a fight we want to see but might as well give it to him. Plus hes the last man standing by default cause everyone elses has been losing.

Last man standing via being injured.

You wanna see Ben Henderson vs Sean Sherk? Same logic.

 

[Nerotheory]

Last man standing as in Bisping and everyone else whos been rumored has lost there fights to put them in the match with Silva. Thing is Middleweight division is really bad now as not top fighters are picking up wins over top dogs and top dogs are knocking other contenders off the ladder so leaves the division with this fight.

 

[Embrace Thou Maryse]

Weidmans career will crash and burn after this fight, hope his bandwagon fans are happy.

 

[Big Red Jericho Punk]

Weidmans career will crash and burn after this fight, hope his bandwagon fans are happy.

He's 28 years old, still has a lot of time left in his fight career. What a ridiculous post, nothing from this Silva fight can hurt him.

 

[Embrace Thou Maryse]

Unless he gets absolutely smashed, all the Silva haters jump off his bandwagon and he goes the way of Cote, Lutter, Leites, etc. Weidman will just be one of those guys that the Silva sucks weirdos use to discredit him.

 

[Deezy]

Unless he gets absolutely smashed, all the Silva haters jump off his bandwagon and he goes the way of Cote, Lutter, Leites, etc. Weidman will just be one of those guys that the Silva sucks weirdos use to discredit him.

So very true, and is everybody negating the simple fact that Weidman hasn't even fought anyone who is relevant in that division other than a so-called contender in Munoz? Talk about a soft contender. Atleast Sonnen faced actual competition before he was fast tracked to his title shots agoainst Silva.

 

[Big Red Jericho Punk]

We get it, Weidman isn't that credible but the middleweight division is awful right now when it comes to quality of good fighters. Just accept it and move on.

 

[Deezy]

Even though the middleweight division is shit, it doesn't mean there couldn't be far more intriguing matches made.

If we are just going to feed lambs to Anderson, why feed him guys who could take over when he retires? Seeing as the UFC is going the freakshow route these days, why not give us Andy vs Wandy? Andy/Vitor 2 electric bugaloo, or Brian Stann? All three fights would bring in more PPV buys than some guy who biggest fight was on FX. Shit throw in Bisping for that matter....Those rankings they put out is just to make people who cover the sport feel like they matter, even though we all know they don't.