Michael “The Count” Bisping is none too pleased with Chris Weidman’s recent remarks regarding his mental fortitude, and, as consequence, “The Count” hit back, referring to “The All-American” as “the Wiesel.”
“Chris the Wiesel Weidman saying I fold under pressure. Hahahahaha I needed a good laugh this morning,” (via Fiveouncesofpain.com).
Was he comparing him to Romanian Holocaust survivor and writer Elie Wiesel, or was he equating Weidman with a certain type of meat-eating mammal commonly known as a weasel.
If the latter is the case, and as the phrase weasel is a double-entendre, Bisping could easily have been lumping him in the category of the treacherous and deceitful.
Bisping’s retort was a result of Weidman’s recent interview with John Joe O’Regan of Fightersonlymag.com.
Weidman was asked whether he thought Bisping was overrated or underrated.
Here’ an excerpt from that interview:
I know he is good and talented and he has faced some good guys but every time he has faced a top ten guy he has lost. Like with the Chael Sonnen fight he did awesome and a lot of people thought he could have won but he didn’t find the way to win.
And I am not knocking him – I think he’s a great fighter, I really do – but I question his mentality against top guys when the pressure is on. Which is pretty much what everyone says about him. He has had chances to fight for the title twice now and he doesn’t come through when the pressure is on.
In relation to the pressure Weidman was alluding to, Bisping, on four occasions, has failed to deliver against the division’s upper-echelon combatants—Rashad Evans, Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson (highlight-reel KO) and Chael Sonnen in a title-eliminator bout.
That said, Bisping (22-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) will once again attempt to stake a realistic claim of vying for the title when he locks horns with ex-Marine Brian Stann at UFC 152.
Apropos Weidman, the 28-year-old rising star of the Zuffa-based promotion has been blowing his own trumpet ever since he defeated top Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner Demian Maia, but more so following his decimation of Mark Munoz at UFC on FUEL TV 4.
He’s convinced he can finish any fighter with a full camp behind him, and that includes UFC 185-pound champ Anderson “The Spider” Silva.
The Baldwin, New Yorker is also of the impression that he should be next in line for a tilt at Silva’s crown—a point he’s made by suggesting his two successive victories against the aforementioned combatants (who were ranked top five in the division) is justification enough for an immediate shot.
To date, Weidman (9-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) has scored three submission and three stoppage victories. Two of those five UFC outings garnered him Submission of the Night honors (Jesse Bongfeldt) and Knockout of the Night honors (Munoz).
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