As UFC champ Chris Weidman mulls move up, Luke Rockhold jumps in Twitter squabble

Chris Weidman

As UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman mulls a move up to light heavyweight, his likely next opponent, Luke Rockhold, was ready to tangle on Twitter.

Weidman (13-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC), who’s ranked No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA middleweight rankings (and No. 4 pound-for-pound), is expected to fight No. 2-ranked Rockhold (14-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) later this year. The planned title fight has already sparked some trash-talk.

“He’s good looking. I’ll give him that,” Weidman recently told MMAjunkie when asked about the challenger’s strengths. “Other than that, he stinks at everything. No, he’s good. He’s well-rounded. It doesn’t matter. Any of these guys at my weight – I’m just running through everybody.”

That’s why Weidman recently told FightHype.com he’s considering a move up to 205 pounds. When that division’s reigning champion, Rockhold teammate Daniel Cormier (16-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC), caught word of the interview, he sparked the Twitter squabble.

As Cormier tweeted:

And then Rockhold jumped in (via Twitter), which prompted some replies from the champ:

No date is set for the Weidman-Rockhold title fight – a tentative plan for a year-end show at Madison Square Garden was scrapped with the latest MMA-regulation roadblock in New York state – but when it’s set, expect some exchanges like the one above.

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.