Former middleweight champion Chris Weidman has revealed that he turned down a trilogy fight with Anderson Silva at UFC 212 in Brazil back in June.
Silva’s original fight with Kelvin Gastelum had fallen through, and with only four weeks to go until the event the UFC reached out to see if he would step in, despite already having two previous wins over the legendary fighter.
“This was about three and a half weeks before the fight was going on in Rio,” Weidman told Ariel Helwani on ‘The MMA Hour’ show. “I was still getting things checked out on my body and going to different doctors. I had to head to Vegas and get it all checked out.
“I already fought the guy twice and now I have to take a fight against him on short notice and head to his hometown to fight him? It wasn’t happening.
“I told them that I had no problem with fighting Anderson again if they wanted me to fight him, but I wanted to have them bump it up for a couple of more weeks so we could do it at Nassau Coliseum or some other place. I wasn’t just going to do it on short notice and take that risk.”
In the end Silva would pull out of the event altogether, verbally stating his annoyance that the UFC couldn’t find him a suitable fight.
As for Weidman, he will look to end a three-fight losing streak later this month at UFC On FOX 25 when he fights Gastelum instead.
