Chris Weidman understands why Kelvin Gastelum received a title shot over him, but when the news first broke he wasn’t happy.
Weidman and Gastelum were both in the running for a shot at Robert Whittaker’s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight title. The argument for Weidman was that he had submitted Gastelum. In the end, Gastelum received the title shot due to Weidman’s inactivity and the fact that the “All-American” has gone 1-3 in his last four outings.
Chris Weidman Goes Back & Talks About His Past Frustration
Speaking to Fightful.com, Weidman explained why he was upset with not getting another chance at the title:
“I was definitely pissed off because…speaking to the UFC and the match makers…my management, I was led to believe that I had a chance of getting a title shot against (Robert) Whittaker. Then when I was at UFC International Fight Week, Mick Maynard called me because he is a good guy and he let me know that I wasn’t going to be able to get it. It was based on my injury and not knowing when I was going to be able to come back and my time table, obviously I was trying to argue that I’d be able to come back and they wouldn’t have to worry about anything. They made the decision that they’d have Kelvin and Whittaker fight on the Ultimate Fighter show, at that time though…it was supposed to be a fight that was set way earlier…probably around the same time that I’m going to be fighting Luke….when it was set up for that fight to happen. Then Whittaker got injured and now we don’t know…I don’t think there is a date set for their fight yet, I was a little bothered. I’m not entitled to think that I deserve it and I don’t wanna be that guy, I went out there and finished Kelvin Gastleum in my last fight, but he went out and won two more fights after that when I was injured. He went out and beat (Michael) Bisping pretty much right after my fight and Jacare by split decision, he did his thing…he was more active…I was out. So, its all good.”
Weidman will meet Jacare Souza on Nov. 3 at UFC 230. He was initially set to take on Luke Rockhold in a rematch. Rockhold ended up suffering from injuries and Souza was yanked from his bout with David Branch to meet Weidman. Branch will now share the Octagon with Jared Cannonier.
Do you think the UFC made the right choice for Robert Whittaker’s next challenger?
