Chris Weidman takes no offense to Anderson Silva coasting on promotional duties for UFC 162, but there are certain appointments that even the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world must uphold.
In May, UFC President Dana White fined Silva $50,000 for missing a planned media event serving as promotion for UFC 162, which is scheduled for Fourth of July weekend, on July 6.
Silva told Brazilian media outlet Veja—via MMAjunkie.com—that he was completely unaware of the media day. He reinforced his excuse by mentioning that he has never missed any commitment with the UFC and his media schedule was blocked so he could focus on training for Weidman.
During an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Weidman was asked whether or not Silva deserved to be fined for missing the scheduled event. Weidman refused to say anything negative about his upcoming opponent, but he certainly didn’t shy away from his opinion regarding the promotional work being put into UFC 162:
It’s all good. He got fined and that sucks for him. It was definitely fair. It’s part of his job to do the media, especially since it was setup and they spent a lot of money. Oh yeah, I’m sure [I’ve had to do more media than Silva leading up to the fight].
Weidman has emerged as a bold, young contender capable of dethroning arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history.
Fans often underestimate how big of a fight this is for Weidman. A win would make him an instant star in the sport, and his name would be forever etched in UFC history. The media attention is new for Weidman, and he is soaking it all in and enjoying every moment of it.
Silva, on the other hand, has been on this rodeo more times than you could count on two hands. He has completely dominated every legend and top contender placed in front of him.
While Weidman agrees with the fine, he won’t hold it against Silva for flaking on the media
promotion:
I’m the challenger, and this guy has been doing this for I don’t know how long. You can tell me, 11 title defenses or something like that? I don’t know. So he’s done a lot of media in his time, and he’s probably a little more sick of it than I am. So I have no problem picking up the tab.
If he manages to knock off Silva, all of the extra media work will have paid off big time for Weidman, who would quickly become one of the UFC’s biggest stars. Unfortunately, a loss would only validate the one thought on the minds of most fans:
Weidman is just another opponent not worth Silva’s time.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com