Chael Sonnen wasn’t the only middleweight that was offering to step up and face Jon Jones on short notice at UFC 151.
Current top dog in the contender’s race at 185lbs, Chris Weidman, actually made a call to the UFC to offer his services to step in and face Jones if the company needed him.
Weidman, who is currently awaiting word on his next fight, happily called UFC matchmaker Joe Silva to take the slot vacated by an injured Dan Henderson in next weekend’s UFC 151 main event.
“We did reach out to Joe Silva about potentially throwing Chris’ name in the mix. I think when we did it, it was probably a little bit late in the game. “(We didn’t know) he had already turned down the fight with Chael Sonnen, so it is what it is,” Weidman’s manager David Martin told MMAWeekly.com on Thursday.
The New Yorker was happy to accept and take the fight, but unfortunately unbeknownst to him at the time, Jones was already out of the match-up and as everyone knows now the card has been canceled.
Weidman could soon be known as ‘Mr. Short Notice’ because he debuted in the Octagon after accepted a bout with Alessio Sakara on two-weeks notice. He then replaced an injured Court McGee to pick up a win at UFC 131.
Then at UFC on Fox 2 when a late injury caused the entire card to be shuffled around, Weidman again stepped up on just 11 days notice to face Demian Maia.
“Chris was willing, able and ready to step up and move up a weight class to fight Jon Jones on 8 days notice,” Martin stated.
While the fight obviously didn’t happen, Weidman was more than willing to step in once again if the UFC needed him. He’s hoping his ‘fight anyone’ spirit will benefit him because he’s still stalking and searching for a match with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
“Simply put, he’s an opportunist, he really is,” Martin said about Weidman.
“Now we hope Anderson Silva will step up and fight the No. 1 contender instead of dinking around and saying they don’t turn down fights. Well then accept the fight against the No. 1 contender.”
It’s unclear at this time if Weidman will get his wish to face Silva next or if the UFC’s middleweight champion will go another route for his next fight in the Octagon.
For more news, rumors and info follow MMAWeekly on Twitter