Mark Munoz was the fighter coming into the UFC on Fuel 4 event talking about a title shot.
It would be Chris Weidman who left the arena with all the bargaining chips in his pocket.
Weidman came out and controlled Munoz from bell to bell, utilizing his wrestling, jiu-jitsu and, finally, his striking to end the fight. Munoz couldn’t offer any offense as Weidman seemed to be one step ahead of him all night.
Following the fight, Weidman made a request to fight Anderson Silva in his next contest and that may very well be a real possibility for the undefeated fighter.
As impressive as Weidman’s performance was, fans should let their initial reaction to it cool a bit before talking about Weidman facing Silva. To me, Weidman needs another win against a top guy to solidify himself as a title contender.
Everyone, myself included, was shocked at how easily Weidman dispatched Munoz, but let’s remember that Munoz was coming off a lengthy layoff from elbow surgery.
Prior to that Weidman had an ugly win over former title contender Demian Maia. The performance was undoubtedly due to Weidman taking the fight on late notice and cutting quite a lot of weight in a short period of time.
Also, despite where Maia ranked in the division at the time, let’s consider the fact that he now competes at welterweight.
Weidman certainly has made an impression on fans of late as he seemingly gets better each time he steps into the Octagon, but I believe fans need to step on the brake when talking about him matching up against Silva.
A few names like Chael Sonnen and Alan Belcher have been thrown around as possible opponents for Weidman if it isn’t a title fight. I like both of those matchups better than throwing him to the wolves against Silva.
The win over Munoz resembles Jon Jones’ fights against Brandon Vera and Vladimir Matyushenko. The UFC light heavyweight champion used the free TV platform to announce his arrival to title-contender status much in the same way that Weidman did tonight.
The fan response may be strong in calling for him to step into a title fight, but hopefully the UFC utilizes the same method to build up Weidman, another future star. It’s obvious he has all the tools to become a superstar fighter but needs another high-profile victory to cement his place as the top contender.
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