White On Weidman’s Future: Move Back Down Or Retire

Thomas Lakes, MMA Fighting

Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman came up considerably short in his light heavyweight debut last night (Fri., Oct. 18, 2019) at UFC on ESPN 6 from Boston, Mass., when 205-pound contender Dominick Reyes ended “All-American” via knockout just minutes into the first round of their main event (HIGHLIGHTS HERE).

Weidman, 35, was hoping to leave the middleweight division behind, gain an upper hand from eliminating a difficult weight cut, and recreate some Octagon magic at the light heavyweight level. That was the plan until Weidman ran into “Devastator” on Friday night and suffered his fifth knockout loss in his last six UFC appearances.

While the New York native stated after the loss that he intends to regroup and come back better than ever, some believe Weidman’s best days are behind him. That includes UFC president Dana White, who either wants the veteran to drop back down to 185 pounds or hang it up for good.

“What he said tonight didn’t sound to me like he is considering retirement,” said White at UFC Boston’s post-fight press conference (replay HERE). “So it’s a conversation he and I definitely need to have. This was his move up to light heavyweight, which obviously didn’t go well for him. So maybe he goes back down to middleweight or he thinks about maybe retiring.”

Weidman began his UFC career back in 2011 and ended up winning his first nine fights, which included his legendary knockout finish over UFC great Anderson Silva in 2013. But after a title loss to Luke Rockhold in 2015 — which was the first loss of Weidman’s career – the veteran never seemed to be the same. Additional knockout defeats to the likes of Yoel Romero, Gegard Mousasi, and Ronaldo Souza left Weidman dead in the water at middleweight and forced him to move up in weight.

Now, with another knockout loss to bounce back from, Weidman’s future is completely up in the air. It’s likely that “All-American” gets one last chance to prove himself at the highest level, but it doesn’t sound like White and company are willing to give him too many shots after that.

What say you, Maniacs? Should this loss be it for Chris Weidman? Sound off!

For complete UFC Boston results and coverage click here.