On July 6 at UFC 162, we will see Chris Weidman try to take Anderson Silva’s middleweight title. It will be almost a year to the date since “The All-American” called out the champ after a thorough domination of Mark Munoz—who was his toughest opponent to date.
As much as Weidman wanted that shot, Silva and his camp were reluctant to agree to the fight. Silva in one interview told Karyn Bryant, “It’s good for him, not for me.”
Silva crushed Stephan Bonnar at UFC 152 in a non-title fight at 205 pounds, while Weidman was set to face Tim Boetsch at UFC 155. That would change as Weidman suffered a shoulder injury and was forced out of action. He had to watch the middleweight division change shape around him without his impact.
Sometimes things happen for a reason, and to that end this matchup seems to be the case. The other top contenders lost. Michael Bisping lost to Vitor Belfort, Hector Lombard lost to Yushin Okami and Tim Boetsch lost to Constantinos Philippou.
After that shuffle of the deck and with no superfight between Silva and Georges St-Pierre on the horizon, Weidman was the only logical choice for both matchup reasons and selling pay-per-view buys.
Now let’s talk about the matchup. As I mentioned earlier, Weidman will “try” to take Silva’s middleweight strap. Many in the past have just shown up for a fight with the “The Spider” and didn’t exactly display due diligence inside the Octagon.
I will tell you why Weidman will get after it. He will not only give forth a great effort but will succeed in doing so and become the next UFC middleweight champion.
Here are three reasons to believe Chris Weidman will have Anderson Silva’s number.