Latest news with #Weidman
USA Today
5 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Chris Weidman prepared to give Dricus Du Plessis his due with win over Khamzat Chimaev
Dricus Du Plessis has an opportunity to tie Chris Weidman's record of middleweight title defenses at UFC 319. 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.
USA Today
5 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Chris Weidman: 'Strong, sloppy and tenacious' Dricus Du Plessis beats Khamzat Chimaev
Chris Weidman can't ignore the cardio aspect of the UFC 319 headliner. Dricus Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) defends his middleweight 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. Although Chimaev has been putting a lot of work in for his cardio with coach Sam Calavitta, Weidman thinks Du Plessis is a bigger opponent than anyone "Borz" has ever faced. "The question marks in my mind are: Has he ever fought a guy the size of DDP? I don't think so," Weidman told MMA Junkie. "Can you control a guy like that and hold onto your cardio with a guy like that? Does he have to finish him in the first two or three rounds? I think. A lot of cardio comes down to not how good of shape you're in or your resting heart rate. It comes down to genetically the kind of muscle you have, how explosive you are, the comfortability that you have inside the octagon in all aspects." Weidman agrees with the narrative that Chimaev has to get an early finish to win the fight. "The only way I see Chimaev winning this fight is by a finish," Weidman said. "I don't see him finishing him anything past three rounds. I think he has to win this fight in the first round. He needs to land a big shot on the feet and look to bring it to the ground for a submission or a ground-and-pound TKO. I don't see him winning a five-round fight. "If you had to pick someone not to be tired against – standing with Du Plessis in the fourth or fifth round while you're tired, and he doesn't know what's coming, you don't know what's coming, and he's big and strong and sloppy and tenacious, it can be a real problem." Chimaev visibly slowed down in his two career decision wins over Gilbert Burns and Kamaru Usman. He is scheduled for his first five-round fight against Du Plessis, which is why Weidman is ultimately siding with the champion to retain his title. "The cardio aspect of it is just too much," Weidman said. "Any time it's a close fight I have to go to cardio, and I know Chimaev has been working on his cardio, but sometimes when you work so hard on something and you get into the fight and it's like, 'Oh my God, I'm still tired.' Is it almost worse that you did all that stuff, and it doesn't change the way you thought it was going to. Is that a brain F of itself? I think DDP is going to win this fight just because of that. "If DDP loses, he's going to get finished in the first round. If I had to put all my money on it, I'll go with DDP on this one."
USA Today
6 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Chris Weidman shuts down rumor of Anderson Silva boxing match: 'I know where it came from'
Contrary to ongoing reports, Chris Weidman is not set to fight Anderson Silva in a boxing match. Rumors emerged that Weidman would be lacing up the gloves against fellow former UFC middleweight champion Silva, but Weidman dismissed talk of a third fight happening. Weidman, who announced his retirement from MMA this past January, explained how those rumors might have spread. "No (it's not true)," Weidman told MMA Junkie. "I'm giving you all the news right now. A couple years ago, I got hit up by Anderson Silva's manager about doing a boxing match with him, and it was good money and everything, but I was in the UFC and I'm like, 'I can't do that.' He was like, 'OK, let me know when you're done.' That was always something I figured after I'm done maybe a boxing match here and there with some big names, make some good money. It would be fun. People would love to see me go against Anderson Silva again. His fans could see if he could get a win back on me and knock me out in boxing. That's more his thing, so why not? But that being said, no. I know where it came from because my manager did some research and found out. "When I went to a national wrestling tournament in Atlanta with my kids the other weekend, I'm talking to a million people, taking pictures, and somebody must have asked me, and I must have said this a few times in the last six months after I retired, 'What would you want to do next?' I'm like, 'I'm doing the analyst stuff, I'm done fighting. I don't think MMA is going to pay me enough money to come back and go through a training camp and getting my head jacked up.' I'm trying to save my brain cells. But a boxing match against some big names, some older dudes and guys like Anderson Silva, Luke Rockhold, Darren Till, guys I've had history with, that would be fun. I'd entertain it for good money. So someone ran with the Anderson Silva thing and just said I said it's set. I didn't say it's set. There's not talks. There's no dates set. I was just going to let them run with it cause maybe it ends up happening. But no, there's no talks that I know of." Weidman was the one to put an end to Silva's legendary run in the UFC middleweight division when he scored an upset knockout to claim the title at UFC 162. He then won their immediate rematch at UFC 168 by TKO due to injury when Silva brutally snapped his leg in Round 2. Could their be a trilogy in the ring? Weidman didn't dismiss that possibility. "I would be open to discussing that," Weidman said. "For good money, boxing Anderson Silva? I've got a lot of respect for him, and we've got a lot of history and if it's a fight people see, it would be fun. Let's do it. Why not?"
USA Today
7 days ago
- Business
- USA Today
Former UFC champ predicts 'bigger guaranteed payouts' for titleholders with end of PPV
Former UFC middleweight champion and analyst Chris Weidman is curious how the UFC's new U.S. broadcast agreement will impact the promotion's highest earners. The UFC announced Monday that its entire package of primary live event content will shift from ESPN to Paramount+/CBS in 2026, with linear pay-per-view being dissolved. All 43 events, including 30 Fight Night shows and 13 numbered cards, will be included in a subscription fee. One of the key questions in the fallout has been how reigning UFC champions and those aspiring to capture a belt will be financially impacted now that pay-per-view incentives can no longer be reached under the new broadcast format. Weidman competed in five championship fights, with four wins during his highest peak at the sport. Two of those bouts came against UFC Hall of Famer Anderson Silva in July 2013 and December 2013, the latter of which was a monumental event for the sport at the time that ended in the shock of "The Spider" snapping his leg. Those were lucrative times for Weidman, he said, but it's a different day now. He thinks the writing has been on the wall for some time that traditional pay-per-view should be fizzled out. "When I was a champion, which is now 2013 when I won the belt, my second Anderson Silva fight did 1 million pay-per-view buys," Weidman told MMA Junkie. "I can't tell you the last time I've seen anything close to 1 million PPV buys, and we're more than 12 years later. Aljamain (Sterling) is my boy, and I made more money as a champion than he did, and that was so much longer ago. It probably is a good thing. It's going to give the opportunity to fighters to make more money. The PPV has been going down, probably with all the illegal streams and they get more expensive. It's just hard to get the numbers like they used to." Onus on managers to negotiate differently with UFC? With a new landscape now afoot, Weidman said it's going to fall on the prominent managers of the sport to take action. He thinks a shift away from pay-per-view incentives has been slowly happening for some of the top names and champions in the sport, and said this could potentially cause a shift to larger guaranteed paydays. "The managers, the people in charge of the MMA fighters' careers are going to have to evolve with this and try to figure out the best ways to negotiate and find leverage," Weidman said. "I know they have over the last five or six years, at least with coming to the UFC and knowing the pay-per-views aren't doing as well, and they have a champion and they're like, 'Listen, it's $2 a pay-per-view buy, it's not what it used to be when we're looking at numbers over 200,000 pay-per-view buys because it's just not there as much anymore.' They were already trying to negotiate bigger guaranteed payouts. I would probably guess that's what it's going to be. You're going to see some bigger guaranteed payouts to the fighters." If the UFC's money from its new partner is locked in and guarantees, and the champions or future champion fighters aren't financially motivated by creating the most fan intrigue for their bouts, then it raises questions about how fight promotion could change in the new era. Some matchups and fighters are going to gravitate interest no matter what, however, and Weidman wonders how the chips will ultimately fall when viewership for a particular event surpasses expectations. "The goal was always to become a champion because when you become a champion, you get a percentage of the pay-per-view buys, and that's how you make the real money, the retirement-type money as a UFC fighter," Weidman said. "I'm curious on seeing if that just goes away and that's not the big goal for the fighters anymore. Maybe it's something else, or maybe being a champion isn't the No. 1 goal. It might just be about getting the most views and, the world we're in now, just becoming as famous as possible on social media and with streaming and stuff like that. Or is there new bonuses and elements that they give you as a perk of becoming champion? You're going to get paid more as a champion, even if you're not a big-name champion, but is it monster numbers like we've seen in the past?" Weidman's final word: 'I think it's huge' for fighters and fans Ultimately Weidman, like many others, is hopeful this landmark news sets up a fruitful future for everyone in the industry. "I think it's huge for the fighters. I think it's huge for the fan base," Weidman said. "The fans have had to pay for ESPN+ then they had to pay the additional $80 per pay-per-view. Now it's going to be more likely we'll have way less illegal streaming and way more people really tuning in to Paramount. I'm excited about this. I think when the UFC does new deals like this, the UFC really puts a lot of pressure to open with bangs and make it the coolest possible thing, then also the network itself. "Paramount has a huge opportunity to make a real big name in the world of streaming and sports. I think you're going to see the best foot forward from both of these companies. I think the sport is going to keep evolving and this is going to be a huge step in the right direction." To hear more from Weidman, check out his complete appearance on "The Bohnfire" podcast.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Luke Rockhold vows to 'ice' Chris Weidman in GFL rematch, wants to box Darren Till after
Luke Rockhold is already on the move with Global Fight League. When GFL unveiled complete rosters for each of its six teams. Rockhold was drafted as a middleweight for Team Dubai, led by his old American Kickboxing Academy coach Javier Mendez. However, Uncrowned's Ariel Helwani confirmed Monday on "The Ariel Helwani Show" that the former UFC middleweight champion has been traded to GFL's Team LA in order to put together a Chris Weidman rematch. The promotion is expected to launch in April, and Rockhold very much wants that fight. "Weidman and me, it makes the most sense, I think, and it's fun," Rockhold said. "I think there's rumors of a fight coming here to LA, and I'm healthy, man. I'm healthy and I'm training and back to it. So, Weidman, I'd love to close that door, as Dricus [du Plessis] would say. I think I already closed it [at UFC 194], but I'm going to secure that bag, get the fight." Rockhold's and Weidman's history dates back to 2015, when they met in UFC 194's co-main event as a high-profile appetizer to the much-anticipated Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor showdown. Rockhold ultimately made good on the opportunity, finishing the then-undefeated Weidman with a fourth-round barrage of strikes to capture the UFC middleweight championship in brutal fashion. Nine years later, both former champions are now under the GFL umbrella, with Weidman on Team New York. A rematch was supposed to happen at UFC 199 in 2016, but injury forced Weidman to withdraw two weeks out from fight night, resulting in Michael Bisping's historic underdog win over Rockhold. After parting ways with UFC in December, Weidman joined GFL mere days later, citing a potential Rockhold rematch as one of the reasons he was most interested in joining the promotion. If and when that fight gets booked, Rockhold expects it to end similarly to the first for Weidman. "Let's see how it goes, I like my chances this time around," Rockhold said. "I think Weidman is a little slower than I've come off [in recent fights]. I think I can keep up. Guys like Eryk Anders and who you're losing to [in the UFC], I'm not losing those fights these days. That's what I'm seeing. "People age differently. I have aged well, trust me. If I'm healthy, I'm going to all-out flow, and I'll be slicker than most anybody out there. So I know what I'm capable of, I just gotta get in shape. Obviously, my last time out I fought Joe Schilling on three weeks' notice or less [for Karate Combat this past April], and I broke my nose again, fought through it, got the knockout. So I expect to have a full training camp and be ready to go and f***ing ice this guy. Put him to sleep." Rockhold and Weidman, 40, have both fought at light heavyweight in the past despite their careers primarily taking place at middleweight. There's been no indication yet as to which weight class a GFL rematch would be held, but Rockhold favors the heavier weight class after turning 40 this past October. But GFL still must prove that it can be a player in the MMA industry. With several handfuls of notable names and former UFC champions like Rockhold and Weidman on the roster, the foundation is in place. Rockhold likes what he's seen so far and is excited to get back to the sport he made his name in. "There's money behind it," Rockhold said of GFL. "They're taking care of me thus far, and they've got a lot of potential fights that are fun. "I miss mixed martial arts. My legs were so beat up after the Paulo Costa fight [in 2022] and injuries and different things, so it was nice to take a break. I wanted to pursue some other things, but I've gotten healthier, and really, MMA is what I'm best at. I still have some fire left in me, and I'd love to test that out." Rockhold has competed three times outside of MMA since leaving the UFC following a unanimous decision loss to Costa. Rockhold first took the gloves off for a detour into bare-knuckle boxing against Mike Perry in BKFC in 2023, which Perry won via second-round knockout. Rockhold then entered the Karate Kickboxing pit and rebounded with a nasty third-round knockout of Schilling. After Rockhold followed that with a grappling loss to Pat Downey at the Craig Jones Invitational, he was offered a spot on the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul undercard. A back injury ultimately prevented Rockhold from accepting a boxing match against Viddal Riley, but he still likes the idea of competing in the sweet science. Rockhold's ideal opponent for a boxing showcase? Fellow UFC veteran Darren Till. "I hurt my back pretty bad going into that CJI thing. I had to get steroid cortisone injections before that. It's been a little bit, but I'm healthy now," Rockhold said. "I think Darren Till is f***ing great. I'd love to swing and test myself against someone like that. We'll see who else. I mean, Viddal Riley, I still like that fight, honestly. Give me eight weeks, give me 10 weeks when I'm healthy for an eight-round boxing match. I'm going to f***ing need my legs, so I just got to be healthy for it. But all these guys, I like [for potential fights]." Till has boxed twice since leaving the UFC in early 2023. He first stopped Mohammad Mutie before most recently knocking out Anthony Taylor in Round 6 of their Misfits Boxing clash in January. Rockhold believes he'd provide Till with a much stiffer challenge than Taylor did. "I can't take that guy any serious," Rockhold said of Taylor. "He's pretty bad, the way everything about what he does and how he throws punches. "I didn't really see [their fight], I just saw the knockout. Till, he's good, he's a pretty clean boxer, for sure. He's got skills. I like it, just give me some time."
