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The former middleweight champion is treating his rematch with Luke Rockhold as if his career is on the line.

The stakes are high for Chris Weidman at UFC 199. So high, in fact, that ‘All-American’ believes it is “do or die” when the cage door closes on June 4th.

Weidman, who shocked the world when he dethroned Anderson Silva in 2013, got his first taste of defeat in the Octagon when Luke Rockhold brutalised him in the 3rd and 4th rounds at UFC 194. The former Strikeforce champion became a two-promotion king when he TKO’d Weidman in the co-main event.

The two middleweights jibed back-and-forth at the ‘Unstoppable’ press conference earlier this month and Weidman believes he must dominate Rockhold in the rematch to erase any doubts stemming from the first fight.

“This is a do or die fight for me,” Weidman said in a recent interview with Inside MMA (h/t Brad Popkin of MMA Mania). “I have to go out there and dominate him. This is my career on the line. This is everything. This is bigger than my Anderson Silva fights. I’m already starting my camp. I did a six-week camp last time and now I’m doing a 12-week camp this time. I’m just going to be very prepared.”

The Serra-Longo product had stood toe-to-toe with Rockhold before throwing a missed spinning back kick in the 3rd round. The AKA fighter immediately capitalized on the mistake and manhandled Weidman from full mount with ground-and-pound. Referee Herb Dean eventually called a stop to the contest in the following round when Rockhold continued the onslaught.

The rematch will take place at UFC 199 — co-headlined by a bantamweight championship tilt between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber — on June 4th at The Forum in Inglewood, California.

Now that mixed martial arts (MMA) is legal in the state of New York — thanks to this — plenty of fighters on the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) roster are chomping at the bit to compete at the first-ever card in “The Empire State.”

Especially if it goes down in famed Madison Square Garden.

Perhaps the most eager bunch are fighters located in or around “The Big Apple,” like Aljamain Sterling. Though “Funk Master” would love nothing ore than to fight in New York, he isn’t going to wait around to see if he gets booked for what promises to be a “massive” event.

At the end of the day, though, Sterling says he needs to get paid now.

“I want to fight now. I need a fight now. The kid needs to get paid,” Sterling told MMA Junkie. “There’s bills to be paid, there’s people that need to get choked out, and there’s a belt that’s shining and I see the light. I want to go get after that.”

Not only does Aljamain need to get paid, he doesn’t want to run the risk of fading out of the limelight by being inactive.

“For me to wait and take my name out of relevancy for so long would be silly on my part,” he declared. But once he gets another fight in, he wants nothing more than to fight on the New York card.

“I’d rather get it in now and come out of the fight hopefully not too banged up and get ready for the next one, which would be (in Madison Square Garden) or wherever it is they’re going to hold the first UFC event in New York,” he concluded.

Sterling — who is undefeated (12-0, 4-0 UFC) — was last seen competing against Johnny Eduardo at UFC Fight Night 80 back in December, choking him out in the second round and giving him his third straight stoppage victory.

The talented Bantamweight signed a “lucrative” contract with UFC after briefly flirting with free agency last month.

Andre Ward’s return to HBO ended in a comfortable unanimous decision victory over Cuba’s Sullivan Barrera in front of a raucous crowd at Oakland, California’s Oracle Arena.

Andre Ward’s (29-0, 15 KOs) light heavyweight debut was a successful one, as one of the sport’s top pound-for-pound boxers scored a knockdown and won a wide unanimous decision victory over Sullivan Barrera (17-1, 12 KOs). The judges scored it 117-109, 119-109, and 117-108, with Ward losing a point for a pretty clear low blow that felled Barrera in round 8. This came just a few rounds after Ward threw punches after the bell had sounded.

Those issues aside, Ward put in a solid performance against a formidable but ultimately overmatched foe. The former super middleweight (168 lbs) champion dictated the pace, avoided Barrera’s big punches and was efficient with his offense throughout the contest. Barrera did have occasional moments of success, and he showed off a good jab that snapped the head of Ward back a few times, but Ward’s footwork, speed, and his technical prowess was just far too much for him to handle.

Here’s the live clip of Ward’s 3rd round knockdown, which brought the Oracle Arena crowd to its feet.

WATCH: Ward puts Barrera down with a big left hook in Round 3. #TweetReplay #WardBarrera https://t.co/UH0yRoK5gW

— HBOboxing (@HBOboxing) March 27, 2016

Ward, whose three-fight contract with HBO includes a November 19th pay-per-view showdown with consensus #1 LHW champion Sergey Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs), gave himself a “B-” for his showing on Saturday, which seems fair considering it took a few rounds for him to get his sharpness going and assert his dominance. Kovalev was in attendance last night, which brought out the boo birds in full force. It is unknown whether or not Ward will go for another fight in the summer before facing Kovalev, or if Kovalev will be next for the man promoted by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports.

In the co-main event, Joseph Diaz Jr. (20-0, 11 KOs) scored an impressive unanimous decision win over Jayson Velez (23-2, 16 KOs) in a 10-round clash. Diaz’s boxing was crisp, his favored left hand found its target on a consistent basis in the first-half of the fight, and his work to the body sapped the energy out of Velez over time. Velez was visibly hurt in rounds 2-4 but never in serious danger of going down. Despite clearly racking up losing rounds, Velez kept at it, tried to get the better of the exchanges on the inside, but Diaz absorbed the blows with ease and maintained a steady pace until somewhat letting his foot off the gas in the later stages. The judges had it 100-91, 99-91, and 98-92 in Diaz’s favor, making for a successful HBO Boxing debut for the talented 126 lbs prospect. Lopsided scores aside, this was a pretty good fight. Highlights can be viewed below:

For more boxing coverage, be sure to check out Bad Left Hook.

Before Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier mix it up for the second time at in the headlining championship act of UFC 197 on April 23, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada, take a trip back in time to see “Bones” defend his title against “DC” at UFC 182, which went down on January 3, 2015.

The two talented Light Heavyweight’s did all in their power to promote the title fight (see how here), but “Bones” ended up doing all the right walking once the cage door slammed shut.

Sure, “DC” had his moments, taking down the 205-pound champion a few times — a feat only Alexander Gustafsson has accomplished before — but  it was too little, too late, as “Bones” proved too much for the former Olympic wrestler.

In the end, the judges awarded Jones a unanimous decision victory for his seventh title defense.

Jon’s victory was short-lived, however, as “Bones” was stripped of his title three months later for his involvement in a hit-and-run accident (details here). The following month, Cormier took out Anthony Johnson to win the vacant title at UFC 187.

Now, the two will run it back one more time when they collide one more time in “Sin City.” For more on that stacked fight card click here.