It wasn’t always pretty for Chris Weidman in his TKO of Vitor Belfort on Saturday night, especially in the early going, as the Brazilian dished out a ton of punishment to the champ. But Weidman was able to withstand the flurry and take Belfort to the mat and, well, the rest is history.
Below, we’ll take a look at the highlights and some of the post-match commentary from the fight.
Highlights
Post-Match Reaction
While Weidman and Belfort were more cordial after the match than they were before it, Weidman had a message specific for those fans who perhaps haven’t believed in the champion.
“Stop doubting me,” he said in the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. “You better join the team now, it’s my last invitation.”
You can see the full interview below.
He also spoke with Megan Olivi after the fight.
While Weidman doesn’t know where he wants to fight next, he certainly knows where he wants to fight, per Damon Martin of Fox Sports:
“Everybody’s asking me about ‘Jacare’ (Souza) or (Luke) Rockhold, honestly it doesn’t matter. I want to fight either one of them in Madison Square Garden. As long as I’m in that venue, I’m a happy man. That’s a dream,” Weidman said.
“That’s really the focus. I’m going to talk to the UFC and find out what the deal is with that and we’ll probably go from there.”
He added, “Jacare would be amazing competition. I know Rockhold‘s here. I’m not the matchmaker, but I feel like Rockhold put on a better last performance than Jacare just because of the guys he fought. I’m not the matchmaker. All I want is a huge fight, preferably in Madison Square Garden.”
Weidman would be a logical choice to be added to the card in December, as he hails from New York and has really impressed in consecutive wins over Anderson Silva (twice), Lyoto Machida and now Belfort.
Of course, Belfort didn’t make it easy, using his strong striking game to make Weidman look like a punching bag at points during the fight. Punching bags don’t have the ground-and-pound game of Weidman, however, a fact Belfort found out for himself the hard way.
It’s a lesson either Souza or Rockhold would be wise to heed if they face the champion next. Weidman has proven to be one of the UFC’s brightest stars and has taken down one legend after the next in his ascent in the sport, even if those fighters were perhaps a bit past their primes at the time.
Against Belfort, he showed the resiliency to take a beating until the momentum turned his way, and once he was able to get Belfort to the ground, the result seemed inevitable. Indeed, it was.
And you have to think the New York crowd in Madison Square Garden would love to see Weidman go for a 14-0 mark just as much as he would love to get there for them in the famous arena.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com