Chris Weidman won the middleweight title by knocking out Anderson Silva at UFC 162 in July 2013. He defended the belt three times before losing it to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194. It was the first loss of Weidman’s career.
In his last outing, Weidman was knocked out by Yoel Romero at UFC 205 in November. Suffering back-to-back losses has Weidman more motivated than ever to win at UFC 210 when he faces Gegard Mousasi.
“I see it as a challenge. I’ve got a tough guy in front of me who’s good in all areas, experienced guy who is on a win streak; something I’m not. Something I’m very familiar with is fighting guys on winning streaks,” said Weidman during the UFC 205 Media Conference Call.
“I want to become the best in the world. I want to get that belt back and fighting a guy like Gegard Mousasi is just the type of guy I need to do it. So I’m more motivated than ever to get the job done, especially coming off of two losses,” added the former champion.
The back-to-back losses don’t have Weidman feeling added pressure to win on Saturday. He sees an opportunity to create a great comeback story.
“I’m more motivated from that setback because I feel like the harder of a setback you have, the more major of a comeback you have. And I just feel the glory I’m going to feel after this fight is like no other I’ve had in my career,” he said.
Weidman knows that he needs to win in order to get back in the title picture. Getting the belt back is his ultimate goal.
“I think I need to prove myself number one. I’ve got to put on good performances. So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to go out there, put on a good performance, and then like Mousasi said I hope the people back me and they want to see me fight for the title and we’ll see what’s going on and if not I’m going to keep on fighting whoever they put in front of me,” he said.
“I’ve trained really hard. I’ve been more motivated for this fight. I’ve really got myself in a great place mentally, physically, and spiritually. I just feel great, healthy, and I’m excited to go out there and put on a show,” Weidman added.
“I know you keep winning and you get the title shot. I’ve had it before and I didn’t expect to get it after a loss. So it’s going to happen with wins, that’s pretty much it.”
