Chris Weidman knows that he needs a win in his next fight.
The 36-year-old will forever be known as the man who ended Anderson Silva’s incredible reign as the UFC Middleweight Champion; however, after Weidman dropped the belt to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194, the veteran hasn’t been able to recapture the success that he had during his early days in MMA.
Coming into his co-main event fight against Omari Akhmedovm, Weidman has only one win in his last six fights, which was against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC on Fox 25 back in July 2017. Weidman has been beaten by Yoel Romero, Gegard Mousasi, Ronaldo Souza, and Dominick Reyes.
Speaking to MMA Fighting, Weidman knows that he needs to win to keep his job, as the sport is about wins and losses ultimately:
“I need to get a freaking ‘W,” Weidman said. “I need to get back on my winning ways. I think I have a lot of advantages in this fight but when you’re in there, you never know what’s going to happen. I’m taking it very serious. He’s tough but when I look at the guys I’ve fought, I don’t think he’s up there as far as the most talented. I think that’s a fair statement without knocking him.”
Weidman wants people to remember who he is on August 8; however, he does understand that you’re not always going to get your hand raised:
“It’s a very tough sport. It’s a fickle sport,” Weidman said. “The fans are definitely tough. But it’s also kind of motivating. You want to remind them. I’m 1-5 in my last six fights. But you look at who I fought and then one person I beat [Kelvin Gastelum] and he’s done pretty good himself. In all those fights, other than my [Dominick] Reyes fight, I was winning the fight. It’s just kind of the way it works sometimes.
“You fight all these really good guys, you’re not always going to get your hand raised. There’s definitely randomness who wins that night. Random things that happen. It doesn’t necessarily mean that person is the better person in the fight.”
Weidman made sure to up his game during his training process, which he hopes pays off with a victory over Akhmedovm this Saturday:
“My goal is to go in there and show there’s different levels to this game,” Weidman said. “I’ve been training consistently longer than I probably have in a very long time. I think that’s going to pay off in this fight.
“I haven’t been out of the gym. I’ve been healthy for a long time now. I’m really hoping that pays off. A lot of my career I’m out of the gym, I’m injured and I’m blown up. This time, I really haven’t been out of the gym between fights. I’m excited to see that work out for me. I’ve just got to get my hand raised. I really think I’m definitely still one of the best in the world but I’ve got to go out there and prove it and get a ‘W’ and start getting on a streak again. Hopefully, Aug. 8 will be the start of it.”