UFC was targeting Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva 3 in Brazil

By bjpenndotcom - July 4, 2017

Nearly four years after their first encounter in the Octagon at UFC 162 in 2013, The UFC was looking to cash in on the possibility of a Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva trilogy fight in Brazil.

Chris Weidman Anderson Silva

When the two met four years ago on July 6th, Wediman was an undefeated contender with a 9-0 professional MMA record, with five of those wins coming in the UFC. In just the second round, Chris Weidman shocked the world as he picked up a 2nd round KO win to claim the middleweight championship. Five months later, a rematch saw Silva’s leg snap in a moment of horror, as Weidman retained his title.

Chris Weidman Anderson Silva

Now, nearly four years after the first fight, both men are on different courses than they once were. Silva recently snapped a losing streak by picking up a unanimous decision win over Derek Brunson at UFC 208; Weidman however is currently in the midst of a 3-fight skid that most recently saw the former champ drop a TKO loss to Gegard Mousasi at UFC 210 in April. Now, nearly four years later, You could argue that both men are once again at a place in their careers to fight one another once again.

According to Weidman, who is currently gearing up for a pivotal fight with Kelvin Gastelum on July 22nd, the UFC actually wanted to have a Silva-Weidman trilogy fight after Gastelum was pulled from his fight with Silva due to a failed drug test for marijuana.

He spoke on The MMA Hour:

Chris Weidman

“The UFC was asking me if I would fight Anderson Silva. This was, I think three and a half weeks before that fight was going on. In Rio. And I’m just like ‘no’. I was still getting things checked out on my body, and going to different doctors.”

“I had just gone to Vegas, got it all checked out. I already beat the guy twice, I’m going to take a fight on short notice and head to his hometown to fight him? I’m like ‘yeah, that’s not happening. If you want me to fight Anderson again, bump it up a couple of weeks, if you want to do it in Nassau Coliseum or some other time, but I’m not going to do it on short notice.”

on 7/4/2017.


Topics:

Anderson Silva Chris Weidman