Chris Weidman reveals why fight against Omari Akhmedov was "weird" and "sloppy"
Following his unfortunate string of defeats between 2015 and 2019, Chris Weidman is finally back in the win column - getting his first win in the UFC in over three years.
It was against the #11 ranked Omari Akhmedov and he had to fight back from a difficult second-round before he won a decisive third-round and subsequently - the unanimous decision.
Chris Weidman looks more motivated than he has in the last few years and it's going to be interesting to see if he has a career resurgence with a few more wins. While Marvin Vettori is one name who has called out Chris Weidman, he'll have a few more options - since he's a former UFC Middleweight Champion.
Speaking to Megan Olivi in the post-fight interview, Chris Weidman explained why he wasn't too satisfied with his win over Omari Akhmedov (H/T MMA Mania):
“I guess some times it’s not the way you expect it to be, but you gotta keep grinding through. I guess that’s what I did, but I’m not too happy with that performance. I’m happy to get a W but it’s not what I expected and I’m just a little bummed out. But at the same time it could be much worse.”
He explained why it was a weird fight and also described it as "sloppy":
“It was just such a weird fight,” he continued. “It was so sloppy. Every time I got to his legs, I was like a little bit off, a little bit too low on the leg or a little bit too high. The weight was just off. It turned into a sloppy fight. But it came down to that third round, I was able to dig deep and come up with the W. Even in the second round when he was getting to the single leg, I was going for this new choke I was doing and every time he just f***ing took me down.”
Chris Weidman's future at 185-pounds
All indications seem to be that Chris Weidman will be staying at Middleweight. His one-off jump to Light Heavyweight saw him get knocked out by a rising 205-pound star in Dominick Reyes.
Most fans won't give Chris Weidman much of a chance at Middleweight - which is now among the most stacked divisions on the UFC roster. It's going to be interesting to see whether Chris Weidman can pick up a few more wins or if it's going to be back to the "L" column for him.