Chris Weidman ‘pissed off’ Kelvin Gastelum received middleweight title shot before him

It’s been a rough year for former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman (14-3).

From an injury that has been keeping him on the sidelines since July 2017, to his opponent Luke Rockhold withdrawing from Saturdays UFC 230 bout, 2018 hasn’t been the year Weidman has hoped for. But perhaps the most frustrating part is that the last man he defeated, Kelvin Gastelum, is fighting for the middleweight title sometime next year against champion Robert Whittaker.

In a recent interview with Fightful, the 34-year-old didn’t hold back his opinion on Gastelum earning a title shot over him.

“I was definitely pissed off because, speaking to the UFC and the matchmakers, my management, I was led to believe that I had a chance of getting a title shot against Whittaker.” Chris Weidman explained.

“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 Gastelum in my last fight, but he went out and won two more fights after that when I was injured. He went out and beat 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.”

In the meantime Chris Weidman is set to face Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza this Saturday in place of Rockhold. He will be looking for back-to-back wins for the first time since May 2015.

UFC 230 takes place Saturday, November 3 from Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. In the main event, heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier defends his title against Derrick Lewis.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 10/29/2018.