UFC middleweight linchpin Chris Weidman deservedly smiled and rejoiced following his second win over former pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva at UFC 168 on Saturday night.
After all, “The All-American” had just silenced the drones of critics that doubted him in the months leading up to the rematch, and it seemed only right for him to wear a grin—despite the gruesome and potentially career-changing injury Silva suffered in the process.
Sporting the same blue Bad Boy trunks he wore during his win at UFC 162, Weidman looked genuinely relieved in the aftermath of his second win over Silva, a victory he garnered under strange and tragic circumstances.
Silva went down in gut-wrenching fashion after breaking his leg on an unsuccessful low-kick attempt he threw roughly 1:15 into Round 2.
And just like that, with one freakish injury, Weidman seemingly halted the mystique of “The Spider,” the man who won 16 straight UFC bouts between 2006 and 2012, 11 of which were title fights.
As for the champ, UFC president Dana White announced in early November via
— UFC News (@UFCNews) November 10, 2013 “>Twitter that surging top-contender Vitor Belfort would tangle with the winner of the Silva-Weidman rematch at some point in 2014.
Belfort’s a handful, even for the champ
The fans who believed Belfort got his last crack at UFC gold against Jon Jones in 2012 were truly off mark.
Since that setback, “The Phenom”—some say only with the aid of testosterone replacement therapy—has scored three straight TKO/KO’s off high kicks, all three of which came in main-event bouts against top-10 ranked foes.
Belfort first TKO’d Michael Bisping (No. 5 middleweight) with a high kick and punches at UFC on FX 7. He then KO’d Luke Rockhold (No. 6 middlweight) with a spinning heel kick at UFC on FX 8 before serving Dan Henderson (No. 7 light heavyweight) his first ever KO at UFC Fight Night 32 with a high kick.
Belfort can match his explosive striking chops with an equally venomous ground game, and because he’s a multidimensional threat, Weidman must again tweak his game in order to systematically break down his style. In order to properly prepare for The Phenom, The All-American must become proficient in controlling the distance and closing the distance, and he must grow accustom to doing so against extraordinarily explosive athletes like Belfort.
Aside from Belfort, there are no clear-cut future title contenders at middleweight
With the exception of Belfort, no other fighter in the UFC’s top-five rankings could say they deserve a shot at Weidman in the near future.
The top-ranked middleweight at the moment, Silva, will clearly need a number of months to heel up from his broken left leg, plus he’s dropped two straight fights to Weidman.
Another fighter that needs time to heal, Bisping, will need another four months to mend his detached retina. Even then, Bisping, who’s coming off a win over Alan Belcher at UFC 159, surely needs another notable victory before he can ask for a title shot.
The UFC’s third-ranked 185-pounder, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, will lock horns with the eighth-ranked Francis Carmont at UFC Fight Night 36 in February. The winner of that fight could logically demand a title crack.
On the same card Souza fights Carmont, fourth-ranked middleweight and former light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida will square off with former Strikeforce champ and ninth-ranked light heavyweight Gegard Mousasi. Like the winner of the Souza-Carmont bout, the Machida-Mousasi winner will have leverage when it comes to challenging for the 185-pound strap in 2014.
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