UFC president Dana White had promised to unveil a string of big new middleweight fights immediately following UFC 149 on Saturday night, but things didn’t go according to plan with the much hyped Bellator champion Hector Lombard failing to perform and his opponent Tim Boetsch picking up a broken foot.
That’s left the top end of the division wide-open and now it’s upper-echelon stars are all jockeying for position as they attempt to get in line for a shot at Anderson Silva’s title.
After an impressive upset win over mark Munoz recently, Chris Weidman is now 5-0 in the UFC and appears to be closest to the belt as things stand.
That’s prompted Vitor Belfort to challenge him earlier today in the hopes of putting himself back in with a chance of avenging his loss to Silva.
“Guys I spoke to joe silva and ask to fight with the top contender #weidman here in brasil so I think this is the fight that will credence me to a title fight so that is what happened,” Belfort wrote on twitter.
“I want the belt but I am not desperate I think weidman is the next for the belt,but Anderson silva deserve to see who is next .So let`s make this fight the next #contender belfort vs weidman the next contender for #andersonsilva”
Weidman isn’t in a hurry to give up his spot though and has made it clear he’s not interested in that fight.
“Love ya @vitorbelfort but you already had your shot at the belt and Im sure u will have another in the future.Rt now is my time though,” Weidman replied.
Meanwhile, Alan Belcher has made the situation more confusing by making his own play by calling out Belfort.
“I want to fight someone who will challenge me!I want to fight @vitorbelfort in his home country in October,” Belcher posted on his Twitter account.
Add into that the fact that Michael Bisping stated recently that he’s been given indications by the UFC that a win over Brian Stann at UFC 152 in September would earn him a title shot and things don’t get any clearer.
Oh, and for the record, despite his loss at the weekend and Dana White suggesting that he move down to 170lbs, Hector Lombard is ready to prove that he’s still a force to be reckoned with at 185lbs.
“I feel strong at 185 (pounds). Just because I had a bad fight does not mean that I am going to drop to 170,” Lombard told his fans.
On Saturday night White suggested that he may have some answers about the middleweight division in a few days time, and hopefully he’ll pick today’s UFC 152 presser, which is due to start any minute now, to spill the beans.
