On Wednesday night in San Jose, California, unbeaten middleweight Chris Weidman made a statement in his UFC Main Event fight.
Entering as a slight favorite the 28-year-old New Yorker thoroughly dominated Mark Munoz.
After a controlling the first round with his suffocating top game and constant searching for submissions, Weidman finished things with a brilliant short elbow as Munoz flung an overhand right at him early in the second.
A few too many shots on the ground followed before referee Josh Rosenthal jumped in, but regardless of when it was stopped, the message was the same: Chris Weidman is the top contender in the middleweight division.
While most fighters take the “whatever the UFC wants to give me” road when asked who they’d like to fight next in their post-win interview, Weidman used his time with Jon Anik to request a meeting with the best fighter in the history of the sport, UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva.
If I’m the UFC, I make that fight today.
There are a lot of people out there hedging on having Weidman take another big step up in competition just nine fights into his professional career.
They point to incoming Bellator champ Hector Lombard as the man who will most likely be next in line for Silva, provided he gets through Tim Boetsch at UFC 149, and does so without looking awful.
Because Weidman’s dominant performance against Munoz was on Fuel TV, some people believe he needs another fight on a bigger stage against another quality opponent before he’s put into the cage opposite “The Spider.”
While there is validity to all those arguments, they’re also short-sighted as far as I’m concerned.
Just because the UFC paid a pretty penny to bring Lombard over from Bellator and he’s older than Weidman shouldn’t put him ahead of someone who is emerging as the standout in the chase for the championship.
One win in the UFC, regardless of how dominant or who it’s against, should not be enough to move you to the top of the list of contenders.
Should Lombard beat Tim Boestch, the same, “He needs a little more exposure” argument certainly has to apply to him as well, and it’s not like he’s going to suddenly going to decide he’s too old to compete if he has to take one more fight before getting to a title shot.
Lombard is going to be around for a couple years. Regardless of the outcome of his bout with Boetsch next weekend; it’s not like there is a statute of limitations on his being a contender. But he’s beaten up has-beens and never-weres in Bellator, and while an impressive win over Boetsch might be enough to sway some people into putting him in the cage with Silva, I’m not one of them.
Weidman has won five straight in the UFC, beaten a pair of top 10 opponents in his last two fights, and just crushed the guy everyone thought was the #1 contender; those things trump Lombard’s accomplishments in my books.
I agree that having Weidman’s breakout performance against Munoz air on Fuel TV reduced the size of the audience who witnessed the thrashing, but that shouldn’t be the determining factor in whether or not you move him forward at this point.
You’ve got a marketing team and several months to work with, not to mention Primetime (potentially), Countdown (guaranteed), and every single MMA outlet around praising him for his performance to help elevate his profile even more between now and the time he’d step in against Silva, which I’m guessing would be about six months from now.
Here’s the other thing: if you’ve got an immensely talented, undefeated contender, why would you risk him taking a loss against anyone other than the champion? What’s the point of that?
The aim should be to maximise the long-term potential of a fighter like Weidman at this point in his career, and the best way to do that is to put him into a title but.
It gives him maximum exposure, and the positives of a pairing with Silva are so much greater than the negatives that there should be no hesitation in putting this together.
A loss to Silva is a loss to the greatest fighter in the history of the sport, which is nothing to hand your head about. His name gets added to the list of competitors who have tried to unseat Silva from the middleweight throne, but remains an elite option in the division. If you’re going to lose, losing to the champion is the way to go.
A loss to someone like Alan Belcher or Michael Bisping at this point, however, undoes all the progress Weidman has earning victories over Demian Maia and Munoz. He gets pushed behind both of those potential contenders, as well as the Boestch-Lombard winner, and perhaps even Chael Sonnen and Vitor Belfort too, both of whom are still in the mix at the top of the division.
Instead of being on the cusp of a title shot, he falls two or three good behind the rest of the pack, and needs to work his way back up the ladder, and for what? So the guy who beat him can get the chance to face Silva? That doesn’t make any sense. You shouldn’t be risking one ready-made contender just to create another.
And what if he beats Silva?
You’ve got an unbeaten 28-year-old champion who just ousted the best fighter of all-time from the throne he’s been sitting in for nearly six years.
He’s well-rounded in the cage, humble, well spoken, and genuine outside of the cage, and all kinds of marketable. Additionally, it re-energises the division, making all the challengers Silva has vanquished viable options again, and comes with the built-in “Can the champion stay undefeated?” sales pitch for every fight until someone finally ends his unbeaten run.
Of all the possible opponents for Silva at this point, Weidman is the only one we doesn’t have a resume we can pick apart and use to diminish his chances against the champion. Each appearance has been better than the last, and there are no “but he lost to so-and-so” in his past that hold him back.
He may not be the biggest name of the bunch or the most expensive potential option, but he’s the one that makes the most sense, but right now and in the future.
Chris Weidman versus Anderson Silva is the fight that makes sense. I just hope the UFC recognises that.
Follow The Roar’s UFC Expert E. Spencer Kyte on Twitter (@spencerkyte).
MELB NSW 4 lyfe
Guest
Great arguement and certainly dont discount Weidman as a genuine contender in the MW. But its never been about the "rankings" and whether the fighter deserves to fight the champ. At the end of the day its about the money and the PPVs. from a combat perspective at this point can you realistically say Weidman is ready to fight Anderson Silva? He's the best of the bunch no doubt but to hand him to the Beast? would put him back in that pecking order and might be a few years before he gets another shot.. And other than the hardcore fans who would buy the PPV? Lombard on the other hand, if he blasts past Boetsch (re: Reem v Lesnar & Silva vLeben) is what they're looking for. No one has challeneged AS with the potential that Lombard has in quite a while (albeit Vitor but he aint the same man the "phenom" was), so makes for a unique match-up..you can combo everyone and nothings worked (wreslters, BJJ guys, etc) but the aggresiveness that Lombard brings is nothing we have seen against the Spider and people want to see that more than the standard fare we have with wrestling dominant MW figthers..unless we see a superfight which would purely for indulgence then Weidman is still a fight or two away unless he "Rory McDonalds" and blows the roof off the next few matchups
E. Spencer Kyte
Roar Guru
Devon, Thanks for the kind words about the content; you'll be seeing a lot more of it on The Roar these days as we're working to improve the MMA coverage here. The thing with Lombard is that his streak makes him easy to market, especially if he's coming off a brutal knockout win over Boestch. Not sure he'll get it, but let's just say he does: he's 32-years-old with a 21-fight winning streak, and a 25-fight unbeaten streak. He was an Olympian. He was a long-time champion in another organization, and has proven knockout power. That is a much easier fight to sell than "the unbeaten kid with the well-rounded skill set who just beat Mark Munoz in a fight not that many people (in North America) saw." Additionally, Weidman is the kind of guy they can build around long-term - he'll eventually get his shot one way or another - while Lombard is more of a "lightning in a bottle" type deal; make the most of him now before he gets exposed, because he'll never be as intriguing as right now. Thanks for the comment - and try to lay off RJ; even you can't deny Lombard's run is impressive. If beating 20 guys in a row - regardless of who they are - were easy, we'd have a lot more fighters on lengthy winning streaks, but we don't because it is very, very hard to do.
E. Spencer Kyte
Roar Guru
RJ (by the way, I've chosen to call you RJ), What Lombard has done certainly doesn't go unnoticed by me, but he needs a good win over Boetsch to be validated. Additionally, if we're just stacking up quality wins, Weidman leads the way with a pair of Top 10 wins, including a nasty finish of a top 5 guy just a couple nights ago. The other thing with Lombard right now is that he's relatively unknown to the UFC audience; hardcore fans who followed his exploits in Bellator (and Australia) know he's a legit knockout threat, but many UFC fans strictly pay attention to the UFC, and only certain people at that, so he needs a very good showing in the UFC to get some traction. As much as I think Weidman is most deserving, I wholly expect Lombard to get the title shot if he wins impressively next weekend in Calgary. Thanks for the comment.
E. Spencer Kyte
Roar Guru
Regardless of how Boetsch beat Okami, he beat Okami, a guy who was widely considered a top 5 middleweight for the last three years and was coming off fighting for the title. Qualifying how he beat him and taking away from the accomplishment because it was late is like saying, "Anderson only beat Chael with a late triangle choke" the first time around. In the end, the win is all that matters. If he adds Lombard to that run, he's the #1 guy after Weidman for me. As for Lombard, he's beaten 20 guys in a row, including a handful of former low level UFC guys, so if he then stops Boetsch in impressive fashion to push his run to 21, you have to consider him. Additionally, the UFC spent good money to acquire him, and won't keep him out of the title mix for long. Bisping is being matched up with Brian Stann at UFC 152 this September in Toronto. Even if he wins that fight, it's only one win, and if we're going to make the one win is enough argument, Lombard trumps Bisping because Boetsch is higher up in the rankings than Stann.
Jerry
Guest
Yeah, but currently Lombard hasn't beaten anyone and Boetsch has only beaten Okami with a late flurry after handily losing the first two rounds. I'm not saying Bisping should be #1 contender NOW but I'd say he's as much in the mix as those two - he, like them, needs a win over a top 10 guy to make a decent claim. But if he beats Brian Stann or Alan Belcher or Jake Shields or whoever he gets matched up with next, why is Lombard or Boetsch more deserving?
E. Spencer Kyte
Roar Guru
Agreed, but if he beats Boetsch, who has won three straight including most recently finishing former title challenger Yushin Okami, that's a very good win; better than the victories Bisping has been able to accrue as of late. Additionally, Lombard is on a 20-fight winning streak and unbeaten in 25 fights. Regardless of who it has been against, those kinds of streaks carry weight. Regardless of how close it was or whether you think he won, Bisping's record shows him coming off a loss, and each of the last four men he's beaten have either retired (Mayhem and Jorge Rivera) or switched divisions (Dan Miller, Akiyama). His best middleweight win (as far as names go) is Chris Leben four years ago, and performance-wise, it's Denis Kang three years ago.
Jerry
Guest
"I don’t know why so many people think Michael Bisping should be in that mix – who has he beaten? The winner of Lombard-Boetsch is next in line in my eyes" If you can ask who Bisping has beaten, can't you say exactly the same thing about Lombard?
E. Spencer Kyte
Roar Guru
But there is no need to put Weidman in that mix right now. Additionally, I don't know why so many people think Michael Bisping should be in that mix - who has he beaten? The winner of Lombard-Boetsch is next in line in my eyes, especially if Boetsch gets the win. Lombard should really have to win one more to me, but I don't see that happening. Vitor only has one win since losing to Anderson, so he needs a couple more good wins too, so a bout with one of the other top 10 guys makes perfect sense. The thing with Weidman is that there is no one outside of Anderson Silva or Chael Sonnen ahead of him in the rankings, so matching him up with someone lower down the list for the sake of exposure or giving Silva more time off or whatever is a potential waste of an unbeaten prospect coming off one of the most dominant performances of the year. Thanks for the comment.
Alex
Guest
I agree but i think there should be more of a elimnation type match making for the top contenders to get lowered down id really like to see vitor vs lombard and wiedman vs bisping and then there would be another match between the winners of the two although that wouldnt make sense considering then silva wouldnt have a fight for a while considering there arnt many other top contenders in my POV but even so those are still exciting match ups to me
Devon
Guest
Rjohnson is silly first of all, so what Hector can throw bombs among other things, beating two top 10 middleweight along wih being 6-0 in the ufc means more then knocking out a bunch of fighters not rated in the top 20 middleweight in the world,,and I love boetch but unless boetch beats Lombard and maybe one or two more he is not yet a title contention fight although he's making his way up there and I hope the best for him, even if Lombard beat stand unless it was in incredible fashion I still believe he'd have another fight to prove himself before walking into the ufc from belator to a meeting title fight...so many times I disagree with these articles but this makes perfect sense with great thought and validation great job, couldn't agree more I hope Dana and Joe silva see this and take his into full consideration.. Rjohnson obvs doesn't know anything about the caliber of fighters only a record of in the win column.. Hector is a great fighter but with much to prove, weidman is a young gun wih so great style and athleticism and marketability, Joe silva, make it happen.
rjohnson2842
Guest
what lombard has done cant - simply cant go unnoticed... and a win over boetsch further validates him!!! i understand that chris weidman truly appears to be the real deal and well he is undefeated in the UFC- so thats saying something, but a record of 32-1 has to mean something??? but either opponent would be good for the ufc fans to see vs silva, but chris weidmans style appears to pose more challenges.