Chris Weidman prepared to give Dricus Du Plessis his due with win over Khamzat Chimaev
Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) defends his 185-pound title against Khamzat Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) in Saturday's main event (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) at United Center in Chicago.
Weidman defended his belt three times during his reign, notching wins over Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, and Vitor Belfort. The only two fighters with more consecutive middleweight title defenses are Israel Adesanya at five and Silva at 10.
"I'm big into title defenses," Weidman told MMA Junkie. "That's how it's always been to me in my mind of who is the best in the weight class because of how hard it is to get the championship. It was guys like Anderson Silva. That was the most impressive thing and what you had to try to chase if you wanted to become the GOAT of the weight class.
"Adesanya has five title defenses, I have three title defenses. This is now DDP's third title defense. If he gets three, he's tied with me for title defenses. It's up in the air. If you want to throw him in ahead of me, if you want to put him right behind me, I would say that's probably fair."
Du Plessis dethroned Sean Strickland to become middleweight champion at UFC 297. He then submitted Adesanya for his first title defense at UFC 305 before defeating Strickland a second time in his most recent outing at UFC 312.
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