UFC President Dana White doesn’t seem too sure who will be challenging Chris Weidman for the UFC Middleweight Championship in his next fight, although he has narrowed it down to two contenders.
When speaking with FOX Sports’ Ariel Helwani and UFC’s Megan Olivi, White gave different takes on who might be next for Weidman.
“It took me so long to get here because Luke Rockhold had me in the hallway,” White told Helwani. “Luke Rockhold said, ‘Do not give this fight to Jacare. Jacare isn’t going to try to come in and do what I’m going to do. You saw what I did to [Lyoto] Machida. That’s exactly what I’m going to do to Weidman. Me and Weidman will go after each other. It’ll be a stand-up fight. We’ll do this, we’ll do that. Let’s do this thing in Las Vegas.’ He was all over me back here. We’ll see what happens.”
White did, however, admit that Rockhold is the number one contender in the division.
“He is,” said White. “He is. [Ronaldo Souza’s] manager texted me after the fight and said, ‘He’s ready to go.’ So, I don’t know. We’ll see what happens here.”
When talking with Olivi, White seemed to lean towards Souza getting the shot.
“So Jacare’s manager hit me right after the fight and said, ‘We’re ready for Chris Weidman,’ so it’ll probably be Jacare vs. Weidman next. I don’t know. Anything can happen. We’ll see how this thing plays out. Luke Rockhold is obviously the No. 1 contender. We’ll see what happens.”
