Weidman: GSP vs Bisping great for them, ‘sucks’ for us
Chris Weidman: “So for those two guys it’s working out great, but for the rest of the division it kind of sucks.”
Former UFC middleweight champion appeared recently on Submission Radio ahead of his fight with Gegard Mousasi at UFC 210 on April 8, 2017, at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. Division champion Michael Bisping defended his title first against the not ranked Dan Henderson and next defends against the not ranked former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.
“It’s definitely holding up the division, which sucks for everybody in the middleweight division,” said Weidman. “I understand GSP. I mean, he gets the opportunity to fight for the middleweight title against a guy who’s probably less dangerous for him, and even at welterweight, you know, fighting a guy like Tyron Woodley. So it’s a great opportunity for GSP, so I understand what he’s doing. For Bisping, it’s a great opportunity for him. He gets to make a lot of money fighting GSP and it’s a guy who’s coming up from welterweight who hasn’t fought in, I don’t know, like three years and he’s again now not fighting a top contender in the middleweight division. So for those two guys it’s working out great, but for the rest of the division it kind of sucks.
Bisping’s a way bigger guy than GSP. GSP’s, you know, talking about even going down to 155, so the size disparity is gonna be a lot and GSP’s been out for a long time now. So that’s the curve balls that we’ve got going. But I think GSP has been a more proven winner over the years and I think he can find a way to win.
I don’t think [GSP] is gonna stick around at middleweight, first off. And second off, yeah, I don’t think we would fight. Renzo Gracie affiliation is too strong. He trains there with Danaher. GSP’s just a good dude. I don’t know. I mean, unless he called me up and was like, ‘listen, let’s do it, we’re gonna make a lot of money doing it,’ (laughs) then I’d be like, okay. But I have no interest in doing it.
Yoel Romero seemingly earned a title shot when he KOed Weidman via a spectacular flying knee, and now is in limbo.
Yeah, I definitely feel for him,” said Weidman. “And I mean, he deserves it. He beat me fair and square with a beautiful knockout, so I expected him to get it. But Bisping I don’t think wants that fight, and then all of sudden it’s just bad timing with GSP coming back and Bisping opening his mouth, trying to want that fight. So it’s just bad timing for him.
Still, Weidman’s immediate concern in Mousasi.
“When he fought Lyoto Machida I think he was on a win streak and Mousasi was – It might have been right after I beat Machida. I don’t remember exactly – But I mean, he did everything he could to win that fight, just he couldn’t track down Machida, he couldn’t get the win. I don’t think he’s beat a top, top guy before. And honestly, I haven’t really watched him too much. I watched him more like live. I haven’t like scouted him or anything like that. Like my coaches are obviously, but I haven’t really watched too much video on him so I don’t really know his history. (laughs) Oh god, I don’t even know what I’m saying right now (laughs).
Weidman was asked if going into the fight on a two-fight losing streak added pressure.
“Every fight always feels like the biggest fight of your life and this is definitely no different,” he said. “I gotta win this fight. I gotta go out there and not just win it, but I gotta go out there and dominate it. And that’s the pressure I put on myself, you know, and I feel like I kind of do that for all my fights. But my mentality is strong. I feel very confident I can go out there and break him, put him in panic mode and I just feel like I’m the better athlete and the more technical athlete in every aspect of the game.
Weidman listed his advantages, beyond the wrestling.
“My pressure, my size, strength, I think my range,” he said. “You know, I’m pretty long and the way I’m able to mix it up in the striking for the wrestling. I mean, I think he got outstruck by Lyoto Machida and I outstruck Lyoto Machida. So if we really wanna go down the striking game, I’m confident with that too. So anywhere this fight is, I’m gonna feel comfortable. And the fact is that I can dictate this fight. I can take this fight to the ground and he’s gonna be losing down there. And his biggest weakness is also his biggest strength – he’s very relaxed, which is a great trait, but sometimes him being relaxed, before you know it the fight’s over and he didn’t get the job done.
“So I’m gonna make him panic. He’s gonna realize that he’s got three rounds to win. To the judges, you can’t just sit back, get taken down and think it’s okay. You know, you’re gonna lose, and especially with me on top of him. He’s not going to be able to relax like maybe he’s relaxed with other people when he gets taken down. He’s really gonna have to worry about the big ground and pound and the submissions.
I think a TKO. A TKO in round two.
What I want more than anything is the title. That’s where the money’s at, man. That’s the bread and butter. So again, the title’s the number one thing I have my eye set on. I got nothing with Rockhold. You know, whatever, he fought a better fight than me, he beat me and at one point we will get a rematch and I will redeem myself, but it’s not something that I’m losing sleep over.
Weidman’s video game obsession has blossomed into a Twitch channel.
“Through the years, man I was out of my mind with gaming,” he said. “Not just Counter-Strike – which I’ve definitely spent lots of time on – but I mean, I was even geeking out. I was doing World of Warcraft, I was power-levelling characters. I was out of my mind for a while.”
I’ve been gaming since as long as I can remember, and then I got to PC gaming, and then I was doing consoles for a long time like through college and stuff,” he said. “But since I started having kids it started dwindling down and I moved a few times. I even set up my computer, which I built like five years ago – and it was top of the line five years ago but now it’s kind of is not as good as what’s out there at all.
“So I was playing some Counter-Strike at night during this camp, just kind of to chill out, and I was in Jiu-Jitsu and one of the guys in Jiu-Jitsu, he makes money streaming and he was talking to me about it and I was like, ‘Man, you make money doing this?’ I was like, maybe I’ll just start streaming when I play video games cause I’m playing anyway, I’ll just start streaming it. And that’s what I started doing.