Now that Rashad Evans has lost to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, he obviously won’t be challenging Anderson Silva next. That leaves the door wide open for Chris Weidman.
During the UFC 156 post-fight press conference, Dana White confirmed that the undefeated Weidman seems like the only contender that’s left for “The Spider” at the moment.
White further elaborated that Anderson Silva “does not care who he fights,” and will face any challenger the UFC puts forward.
In fact, while the UFC president said he wasn’t making any matches, he still answered the question quite directly, relayed by MMA Fighting’s Shaun Al-Shatti:
Dana White answering if @chrisweidmanufc is the only guy left for Anderson Silva: “I would have to say yes.” — Shaun Al-Shatti (@shaunalshatti) February 3, 2013
Just a matter of months ago, it seemed like Silva had his pick of fights, as middleweights Michael Bisping, Vitor Belfort, Hector Lombard, Tim Boetsch, Alan Belcher and Chris Weidman were all “in the mix” at one point or another.
But in that span of time, Bisping, Lombard, Boetsch and Belcher have all posted losses that have disrupted their respective winning streaks.
Out of all of them, Bisping has the most marketable name, but suffered a head-kick KO loss against Belfort at UFC on FX 7 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
To boot, Belfort is 3-1 since his own loss to Silva at UFC 126, also by a head-kick knockout.
However, “The Phenom” has his sights set elsewhere, as he used his last post-fight Octagon interview to call out current light heavyweight champion Jon Jones for a rematch of their UFC 152 title bout.
That effectively leaves Chris Weidman as the “last man standing” in the division, although he’s spent the last month injured since pulling out of a UFC 155 match against Boetsch (via MMA Junkie).
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