Even though former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion Chris Weidman is “slow” and got “exposed” at the UFC 194 pay-per-view (PPV) event, current 185-pound kingpin Luke Rockhold welcomes an “All American” rematch.
Hey, whatever pays the big bucks.
Most mixed martial arts (MMA) fans (and pundits) expected Weidman to go to the back of the line, since he was not just beaten, but dominated by the Strikeforce import. But then Yoel Romero went and ran afoul of USADA and Ronaldo Souza — another top contender — was paired with Vitor Belfort.
Ariel Helwani talks to UFC Tonight:
“He’s been keeping up with the news on Yoel Romero and the just announced Vitor-Jacare fight. He’s begun training for rematch with Luke Rockhold. He hasn’t been told he’s getting that fight yet. He says he wants to fight for it any time. At UFC 199, any time, he wants the rematch.”
After Belfort and Souza comes Lyoto Machida and Tim Kennedy, according to the latest UFC rankings.
Then again, perhaps the promotion will wait and see what happens when Michael Bisping and Anderson Silva throw down next month in London, England (more on that fight here), as a finish for “The Spider” could send him to the top of the middleweight heap.