UFC 194. Chris Weidman vs Luke Rockhold.
On Saturday night at UFC 194, The UFC could see its 185lb division completely shook up. Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman, the undefeated wrestler from Baldwin, New York, the man who dethroned Anderson Silva, the greatest fighter of all time takes on number one contender Luke Rockhold, the former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion who has been on a tear through the UFC Middleweight Division in the co-main event.
Also on the UFC 194 Main Card is another battle at Middleweight between number two ranked Jacare Souza and number three ranked Yoel "Soldier of God" Romero. Like the Featherweight division, the Middleweight division will have a who new demographic come Sunday morning, we could potentially have a new champion and a clear cut number one contender.
Weidman has defended his belt three times, beating Anderson Silva in their rematch after brutally dislocating Silva's leg after checking one of his leg kicks. His next defence was against another Brazilian, the former Light Heavyweight Champion, Lyoto Machida. Machida managed to take the champion the full five rounds but ultimately lost on a unanimous decision In May of this year, Weidman knocked out former UFC Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight Champion Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort at UFC 187. Their fight had been a couple of years in the making and was scheduled to take place at UFC 184 in February but was rescheduled when Weidman was forced to pull out with a rib injury.
Despite beating arguably the greatest fighter of all time, Anderson Silva twice and defending his belt against both Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort, Weidman has pointed out that he hasn't being receiving the respect he deserves. Some have put this down to a combination of pure luck in beating of Anderson Silva and him beating fighters who are past their prime. Should he beat Luke Rockhold on Saturday evening, those critics should finally be silenced.
Unlike Machida and Belfort, when Weidman faces off with Rockhold he will be facing him in his fighting prime. Rockhold will step into the Octagon with a record of 14 wins and 2 losses. 9 of those wins by submission and 3 of them by KO/TKO. In Strikeforce, Rockhold defeated fellow UFC Middleweight Contender Jacare Souza for the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship. He defended his belt twice before moving to the UFC in 2013. Since joining the UFC from Strikeforce, Rockhold has gone 4-1, his only lose came to a TRT fuelled Vitor Belfort in May 2013. Since then he has won four in row with four stoppages including a second round submission over No.7 ranked Michael Bisping last November in Sydney and a first round TKO over No.5 ranked Lyoto Machida in April of this year in New Jersey.
Between them both, Weidman and Rockhold have essentially cleaned out the top ten of the UFC Middleweight Division. On paper alone, this is easily the best fight of the week. In terms of marketability it doesn't have the hype that Aldo vs McGregor carries with it but for people looking for a fight between the undisputed number one and the undisputed number two of their division, this one is for you.