Undefeated UFC light heavyweight contender Daniel Cormier has offered extremely high praise for UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman heading into his UFC 175 showdown with Lyoto Machida.
In a promo on Fox Sports for UFC 175, which airs live on pay-per-view from Las Vegas on Saturday, "DC" states outright that Weidman is the best middleweight around and could be considered the best at 205 pounds. Here's the transcription, per MixedMartialArts.com:
To be the man, you have to beat the man. Weidman did it twice. I think Weidman’s the best, not only at 185, but could be at 205. But Lyoto Machida is the anti-wrestler. Machida has a really sneaky way to keep you from getting him down. This will be a very close fight.
Cormier, who is also undefeated as a professional mixed martial artist (15-0), is referring to "The All-American's" back-to-back victories over Anderson Silva at UFC 162 and UFC 168, respectively.
While both fights ended in finishes, they ended in markedly different fashion.
At UFC 162 almost exactly one year ago, Weidman refused to play into the mind games of "The Spider," who excessively taunted and showboated throughout the fight.
Early in the second round, Weidman caught the seemingly unstoppable champ with a combination that knocked him out cold, marking Silva's first loss in 17 fights and ending his record run of 10 consecutive successful title defenses in the process.
Given the Brazilian legend's stunning resume, a rematch was the only thing that made sense from a matchmaking standpoint.
At UFC 168 in December, Weidman again controlled the action early on, but Silva began to find some rhythm on his feet as the bout progressed.
In an unforeseen turn of events, early in the second round Silva shattered his left leg on Weidman's knee when the champ checked a stiff leg kick.
As a result, the referee had no choice but to waive off the championship bout.
Weidman looks for his second title defense on Saturday against Silva's friend and Black House training partner Machida, who is known for his counterstriking and takedown defense.
Is Weidman truly one of the best around in the upper weight classes, or will Machida show that his American counterpart is just as beatable as anyone else?
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
