Anderson Silva’s loss to Chris Weidman at UFC 162 has shaken up the UFC’s middleweight division.
For the first time in seven years, there is someone else other than Silva at the top of the weight class, and it’s one of the most well-rounded fighters the sport has seen in years.
With an impressive wrestling base, elite BJJ skills, and excellent striking, Weidman has the potential to stand alone atop the UFC’s 185-pound weight class for the next seven years just like Silva did.
Or can he?
The UFC middleweight division is currently full of a long list of contenders, many of whom Weidman hasn’t fought yet. Although the New York native will have to fight Silva in a rematch before he takes on a new opponent, there are definitely some intriguing matchups that could come down the road, especially if Weidman once again defeats Silva when they fight for the second time, either later this year or early in 2014.
Vitor Belfort, fresh off his head kick KO win over Luke Rockhold, is already bugging UFC president Dana White for his crack at Weidman. Belfort has to wait, of course, but a possible fight against Weidman is extremely intriguing, as Belfort looks to be on another level now that he’s added TRT to his regimen.
But Belfort won’t wait a year for a title shot, so you can count on seeing him in the Octagon again in the near future. And when he does come back, I’d like to see him take on Gegard Mousasi – who is dropping down to 185 — in a possible title eliminator, with the winner getting a crack at the Silva-Weidman winner (unless the UFC plans to do a trilogy with them, which could certainly happen).
After Belfort and Mousasi, there’s the rest of the second tier of middleweights — Michael Bisping, Mark Munoz, Rockhold, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Yushin Okami and Costa Philippou — who could all be potential title contenders down the road. All of these men will need to pick up one or two more impressive wins to get that title shot though, so expect all of these fighters to be booked against one another in the upcoming months to help determine who is a true contender and who is a pretender.
The third tier would be guys like Tim Boetsch, Alan Belcher, and Francis Carmont, good fighters, but certainly none of whom will ever sniff the belt, and so it’s not even worth further discussing them at this point of time.
Silva’s loss has certainly shaken up 185 pounds. In a way, it’s a bit disappointing that the guys in the second tier will have to wait to see how the Silva-Weidman rematch plays out, but it’s good because once those two settle their business there will be no doubt who the true #1 contender is.
It will be interesting to see if Weidman can defend his belt against Silva in the rematch and eliminate “The Spider” from the title picture, because, if he can, the UFC middleweight division is going to get a whole lot more interesting in the next few years, and I can’t wait to see how things play out.
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UFC 162: Silva vs. Weidman took place on July 6, 2013 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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