Chris Weidman (grey shorts) reacts to his knockout victory over Mark Munoz during their middleweight bout at HP Pavilion on July 11, 2012 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw for UFC.com)
It appears that negotiations between the Ultimate Fighting Championship and it’s middleweight champion, Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva (33-4) have proved fruitful as a report from the New York based Newsday.com has the Brazilian defending his belt versus Chris Weidman (9-0) this July at UFC 162.
UFC 162 is expected to take place on Independence Day Weekend with a target date of July 6, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The newsite confirmed the news with Weidman who learned of the fight through UFC exec Lorenzo Fertitta, who are all in New York lobbying to legalize the sport of mixed martial arts in that state.
“Dream come true,” Weidman said. “Ever since I’ve been fighting, Anderson Silva has been the champion and I’ve been visualizing beating him. Now I have the opportunity. I have to make the most of it.”
Weidman has been begging the UFC for a shot at Silva for some time now, with promotion president Dana White confirming last month that this was the fight he was working on.
The challenger has been out for a number of months recovering from elbow surgery. Weidman’s last fight went down in July of last year at UFC on FUEL TV 4, earning a “Knockout of the Night” victory over Mark Munoz after landing a fight ending elbow in the second round. Weidman has five wins in total in the Octagon which also includes victories over Demaian Maia, Tom Lawlor, Jesse Bongfeldt and Alessio Sakara.
Silva will have been out of action for over eight months since his last fight, taking time off from fighting to appear in a movie and to open up his own Muay Thai gym in California. ‘The Spider’ fought last October at UFC 153 in Brazil, competing at light heavyweight against Stephan Bonnar. Silva would end things in the first round after landing a knee to Bonnar’s midsection. Silva’s last title defense came in July of last year with a second round TKO finish against Chael Sonnen.