After suffering four losses in his past five fights, paired with back-to-back surgeries, Chris Weidman has decided to make the move up to light heavyweight.
Speaking to TMZ, Weidman (14-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) already appointed a hit list, and a fight with the man who took his world title, Luke Rockhold, is definitely one he wants back.
This time, they’d both be at light heavyweight.
“That’s definitely on the agenda,” Weidman said of Rockhold. “I don’t know if that would be my first fight or not, but I think your first loss definitely hurts the most. To have the opportunity to get that one back is definitely something I want to do.”
And Rockhold isn’t the only one he’s eyeing. Weidman is already looking at the top of the division and a possible matchup with light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Former middleweight champion Weidman has always set his goals high and would love to be part of the select few who have won championships in multiple weight classes.
“I’ve got to fight some other guys first, but at some point, that’s the goal,” Weidman said. “When I was at 185, the goal was to hold the belt at 185 for as long as I could, then go up to 205 and win the belt over there.
“It didn’t work according to my plan perfectly. But now I’m at 205, and I definitely think I have the tools to beat (Jones).”
With several fighters finding success in their moves up to light heavyweight, including Saturday’s UFC 239 title challenger Thiago Santos and recent title challenger Anthony Smith, Weidman said he knows he has the tools to compete with the best in the division.
“I’m not going to be the biggest 205-pounder, but I think I bring other things to the table,” Weidman said.
Having only fought once in 2018, a KO loss to Jacare Souza, Weidman is just trying to stay healthy. He points his recent health issues to the heavy weight cuts he’s endured during his middleweight tenure.
“I’m coming off two back-to-back surgeries and I think that was one of the main reasons I decided to go up,” Weidman said. “I think the weight cuts were definitely depleting my body, and I was getting injured. So I was just like, ‘You know what? I think I can hang with the 205-pounders. I can make some big splashes up there, so why not just do that and stay healthy?'”
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