UFC 210 in Buffalo, NY next month has a late addition to the card. Cynthia Calvillo, fresh off a win over TUF 23 finalist Amanda Cooper at UFC 209, will meet Pearl Gonzalez in a women’s strawweight bout. The UFC announced the match during the UFC Fight Night 107 broadcast Saturday evening live from London. […]
UFC 210 in Buffalo, NY next month has a late addition to the card. Cynthia Calvillo, fresh off a win over TUF 23 finalist Amanda Cooper at UFC 209, will meet Pearl Gonzalez in a women’s strawweight bout. The UFC announced the match during the UFC Fight Night 107 broadcast Saturday evening live from London. […]
Chris Weidman is trying to find himself back to the UFC middleweight title picture, but he’s being held up by the recently made Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre fight. ‘The All American’ once ruled as one of the most dominant champions in mixed martial arts (MMA) after winning the 185-pound throne from Anderson Silva in
Chris Weidman is trying to find himself back to the UFC middleweight title picture, but he’s being held up by the recently made Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre fight.
‘The All American’ once ruled as one of the most dominant champions in mixed martial arts (MMA) after winning the 185-pound throne from Anderson Silva in 2013, going on to defend the strap successfully three times. After a wheel kick gone bad during his UFC 194 match-up against Luke Rockhold, however, Weidman was defeated for the first time in his MMA career and lost his title.
After almost a year off from in-Octagon competition Weidman made his return in a thriller at UFC 205 from Madison Square Garden against Yoel Romero. While seeming to have controlled the bout’s first two rounds, Weidman was knocked out by a flying knee from the Cuban 24 seconds into the third round.
The former 185-pound champ now looks to regroup with a potential win over No. 5-ranked Gegard Mousasi in the co-main event of UFC 210 live on pay-per-view (PPV) next month (Sat. April 8, 2017). Weidman recently spoke to Submission Radio to discuss his road back to the middleweight title, where he expressed frustration with the recent pairing of champion Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre; which still does not have an official date or venue booked for their title clash (quotes via MMA Fighting):
“It’s definitely holding up the division which sucks for everybody in the middleweight division. I understand GSP, he gets the opportunity to fight for the middleweight title against a guy who’s probably less dangerous for him than even at welterweight, fighting a guy like Tyron Woodley. It’s a great opportunity for GSP so I understand where he’s going.
“Bisping, it’s a great opportunity for him. He gets to make a lot of money fighting GSP and it’s a guy who’s coming up from welterweight who hasn’t fought in three years and, again, he’s not fighting a top contender in the middleweight division. So for those two guys it’s working out great, but for the rest of the division, it kind of sucks.”
May 23, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Chris Wiedman (red gloves) and Vitor Belfort (blue gloves) fight during their middleweight championship bout during UFC 187 at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Weidman won via first round TKO. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
After his win over Weidman at UFC 205 Yoel Romero was expected to be the next in line to challenge Bisping for the 185-pound title. With St-Pierre deciding to make his return at middleweight, however, those plans were put on hold leaving the Cuban in the dust.
Weidman says he feels for Romero in his current situation, who he believes deserves the next crack at the gold after knocking him out:
“Yeah, I definitely feel for him. He deserves it. He beat me fair and square with a beautiful knockout. So I expected him to get it but Bisping I don’t think wants that fight and then all of a sudden it’s just bad timing with GSP coming back and Bisping opening his mouth trying- he wants that [St-Pierre] fight. Just bad timing for [Romero].”
As for his bout against Mousasi in April, Weidman feels his match-up with the Dutchman is a bit of a step down in competition from the guys he’s been sharing the Octagon with as of late:
“It’s what I want. I want the best guys. I want the guys that – when have I ever fought a guy who wasn’t a top guy? And Mousasi I think would be almost a step down from the level of guys I’ve been fighting. He’s on a nice win streak, he’s developed a name for himself, he’s experienced, he’s been around, but I feel like every time he’s stepped up and fought a top-notch guy, he’s came up a little bit short. It’s a great fight. People are behind him, people think he’s good, so if I go out there and dominate him I think it brings me closer to getting back to that title contention.
“What I want more than anything is the title. That’s where the money’s at. That’s the bread and butter. So getting the title is the number one thing I have my eyes set on.”
Daniel Cormier is gearing up to defend his UFC 205-pound title in a rematch against surging No. 1-contender Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in the main event of April 8’s UFC 210 from Buffalo, New York, but he isn’t oblivious to the scarcity of the division and the lack of legitimate title threats currently occupying the 205-pound
Daniel Cormier is gearing up to defend his UFC 205-pound title in a rematch against surging No. 1-contender Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in the main event of April 8’s UFC 210 from Buffalo, New York, but he isn’t oblivious to the scarcity of the division and the lack of legitimate title threats currently occupying the 205-pound waters.
Aside from Johnson, Cormier feels as if only former champion Jon Jones, who’s currently serving out a suspension, and former title challenger Alexander Gustafsson, who Cormier beat in 2015, can realistically challenge for the title:
“It’s a very top-heavy our division,” Cormier told MMAjunkie Radio this past week. “You have Anthony and myself and Jones when he gets back (from suspension) and Gustafsson, but I just don’t know if the rest of those guys can actually compete. For me, it’s not even about those guys. I’ve got my next three fights mapped out: I’ve got to fight Anthony Johnson, I’ve got to fight and beat Jon Jones and then I have to fight and beat Jon Jones again. Then I will have accomplished everything I could have ever accomplished in the sport of mixed martial arts.”
The light heavyweight division was once the UFC’s marquee division, but it is currently lacking contenders as well as prospects, aside from perhaps 30-year-old Misha Cirkunov, who has compiled a 4-0 record inside the Octagon. Cormier’s focus isn’t lying on the division’s rising contenders, however, as he knows his career doesn’t have many fights left in it:
“I don’t really have to worry too much about Cirkunov, because by the time Cirkunov is ready to fight for a championship my journey may be complete,” Cormier said. “I’m not too worried about those young guys. That’s going to be for the guys that are in their mid-20s and early 30s to worry about. I’m 37, going to be 38 (on) March (20), so I know what I’m doing.”
While he may be nearing the end of the road, “DC” is still set on fighting the best in the world, although he wouldn’t mind if he never had to share the Octagon with Gustafsson again:
“Even though it’s top heavy, my desire is to fight those guys in that very top part of the division. I don’t really have the desire to fight those other guys. I want to fight Jones. I want to fight ‘Rumble.’ I would fight Gustafsson, but would prefer not to because that guy really did take me behind the woodshed last time (we fought at UFC 192). I would prefer not to fight Gustafsson, if I’m going to be honest.”
What are your thoughts on the division and how do you expect Cormier’s rematch with Johnson to play out?
Not only does the fans see that the card for the next UFC PPV (pay-per-view) event is not filled with top names, but the UFC also sees that and with UFC 210 under a month away, the promotion is still seeking to add another big bout to the main card. However, it doesn’t seem like
Not only does the fans see that the card for the next UFC PPV (pay-per-view) event is not filled with top names, but the UFC also sees that and with UFC 210 under a month away, the promotion is still seeking to add another big bout to the main card. However, it doesn’t seem like their efforts have been successful thus far as the promotion tried to get top contender Tony Ferguson on the card. They had two bouts in mind, but nothing came of it, according to Ariel Helwani.
Helwani noted on his official Twitter account that the UFC wanted to book Ferguson against Khabib Nurmagomedov or former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez at the event.
Still only 4 fights listed on the UFC 210 PPV graphic. UFC did try to book Ferguson-Khabib & Ferguson-Alvarez for it this week but no luck.
Although Helwani didn’t elaborate on why the bouts weren’t made, it does offer a glimpse into the UFC’s line of thinking. The promotion has been trying to book Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson for a while now and most recently at UFC 209, but the fight never happened due to Nurmagomedov pulling out of the bout at the last minute. Also, as you probably know, Alvarez has already been booked for a different fight, against Dustin Poirier at UFC 211.
Ferguson was very outspoken about his pay for UFC 209 and believes that he was owed his full show money from the UFC for making weight for the fight, which would have been for the interim lightweight title, but he ended up receiving less than half of that, so money could be an issue in terms of why the promotion didn’t book him on the card. That’s just speculation. It’s likely that we won’t see Ferguson fighting for a little bit.
UFC 210 takes place on April 8th at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY. The night’s main card will air live on pay-per-view while the prelims will air on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass. Daniel Cormier vs. Anthony Johnson for the light heavyweight title will headline this event.
The second instalment of the UFC’s teasers for the upcoming light heavyweight championship bout between current title-holder Daniel Cormier, and challenger Anthony Johnson prior to their bout at UFC 210 on April 8 has been released. The headline fight of UFC 210 will feature the rematch of “Rumble” Johnson and “DC” following Cormier’s rear-naked choke […]
The second instalment of the UFC’s teasers for the upcoming light heavyweight championship bout between current title-holder Daniel Cormier, and challenger Anthony Johnson prior to their bout at UFC 210 on April 8 has been released. The headline fight of UFC 210 will feature the rematch of “Rumble” Johnson and “DC” following Cormier’s rear-naked choke […]
The UFC have released a teaser for the upcoming light heavyweight championship bout between current title-holder Daniel Cormier, and challenger Anthony Johnson prior to their bout at UFC 210 on April 8. UFC 210’s headline clash will be the second time that Cormier and Johnson will meet, following Cormier’s rear-naked choke victory over Johnson at UFC […]
The UFC have released a teaser for the upcoming light heavyweight championship bout between current title-holder Daniel Cormier, and challenger Anthony Johnson prior to their bout at UFC 210 on April 8. UFC 210’s headline clash will be the second time that Cormier and Johnson will meet, following Cormier’s rear-naked choke victory over Johnson at UFC […]
