UFC 210's Gegard Mousasi taking the Yoel Romero route against Chris Weidman

Middleweight Gegard Mousasi said he isn’t planning on finishing ex-champ Chris Weidman at UFC 210.

If Weidman should walk right into his outstretched knee, however, he wouldn’t be upset.

“It’s a matter of him making a mistake, shooting at the wrong distance, and he’s going to pay for it,” Mousasi (41-6-2 MMA, 8-3 UFC) told MMAjunkie Radio in advance of the pay-per-view fight on April 10 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y.

In other words, exactly what happened to Weidman (13-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in his previous fight, a meeting with Yoel Romero (13-1 MMA, 8-0 UFC) at UFC 205. Weidman had availed himself well in the first two rounds, then got caught with a flying knee that knocked him senseless in the final frame.

Mousasi likes that option, though he doesn’t want to put too much pressure on himself. There’s already enough of that given the stakes of the fight. With champ Michael Bisping (30-7 MMA, 20-7 UFC) bent on taking money matchups rather than moving down the list of contenders, Mousasi and Weidman are competing just to stay in the picture should the promotion force “The Count” to take on rightful No. 1 contender Romero.

“The UFC is making these fights that don’t make any sense,” Mousasi said. “Dan Henderson and now (Georges St-Pierre), so if they would have done it the correct way, Romero would have fought for his belt, (Ronaldo) ‘Jacare’ (Souza) would have got his shot by now, and I would have been afterwards. But because of this fight (between Bisping and St-Pierre) that really doesn’t make any sense, the No. 1 contenders have to wait.

“Let’s say after this fight, I have to put everything on the line again to get a win, and then fight for the title, where it actually should have been me already if the UFC hadn’t made those stupid fights.”

For the record, the St-Pierre fight isn’t official just yet; Bisping recently gave the former welterweight champ a deadline to agree to a July fight. Mousasi and Weidman expressed skepticism, however, that Romero would step into the picture if the deadline passed.

Mousasi could venture into different weight classes to protect his prospects in the middleweight division. He’s volunteered to do so at light heavyweight, where he’s previously competed. But first, he has to keep his place at 185 pounds, and that means going through Weidman.

If the ex-champ would just make a miscalculation in the octagon, that would help move things along.

For more on UFC 210, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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