Chris Weidman has respect for Israel Adesanya but he feels he can climb back up the ladder and take out “The Last Stylebender.”
Adesanya is the reigning UFC middleweight champion. He became the undisputed title holder after stopping Robert Whittaker back in Oct. 2019. He followed that up with a successful title defense over Yoel Romero via unanimous decision.
Weidman Feels He Can Beat Adesanya
Weidman, who is a former UFC middleweight champion, spoke to MMAFighting.com‘s Damon Martin. During the interview, Weidman expressed his belief that he can dethrone Adesanya.
“Obviously, I’m coming off losses,” Weidman said. “I don’t want to talk too much, but it is a really good matchup for me. Obviously, I got knocked out by Yoel Romero, and he didn’t, but I engaged a lot more. His other fights, if you compare my fight with Kelvin Gastelum, I pretty much dominated that fight and then finished him. I finished Anderson Silva twice, and he had a close fight with him, too.
“I just think matchup wise, everything is about matchups, and I think I’m a bad matchup for him. A guy who could get him down and control him. I’m very dangerous with submissions as well, and [I could] knock him out at the same time. I would love to get that opportunity, and right now I’m far away, at least in my eyes. I’ve got some serious work to do. But that is the end goal.”
The “All American” has seen better days inside the Octagon. He has gone 1-5 in his last six outings. In all of those defeats, Weidman has been stopped via knockout or TKO. He hasn’t emerged victorious since July 2017.
Weidman was riding high at one point in his career. He was the first man to stop Anderson Silva under the UFC banner to capture the 185-pound gold. He went on to have three successful title defenses including a rematch with Silva. Weidman went from a perfect 13-0 record to 14-5.
