After quickly submitting Karl Roberson in his last outing, surging middleweight Marvin Vettori continues to call for a scrap with Chris Weidman. Not only that, Vettori has let it be known he was far from impressed with the former champ’s latest performance.
Vettori calls Weidman’s latest win “sloppy”
Earlier this month, Weidman stopped a two-fight losing skid by working his way to a decision win over Omari Akhmedov. The victory was just his second since 2015.
Vettori, meanwhile, has been on a bit of a roll, as his win over Roberson in June was his third straight. The only man to defeat him in his last five outings is the current middleweight champ, Israel Adesanya, who got by Vettori with a split decision win in 2018.
Well, recently Vetttori spoke with MMA Junkie. Not long ago, Vettori called out Weidman via Twitter, and he repeated that call out during the interview.
“I saw his last performance. He finally got a win, and he’s really picking and choosing opponents,” Vettori said. “He’s been hiding already. I mean, this thing is whack.
How is a former champ with such a reputation coming back, had a weak win – I call it weak because it wasn’t a very dominant performance at all. It was sloppy, he lost the second round bad.”
“Weidman won this fight, and he’s kind of relevant again, and I want to fight him.
I mean, he’s a former champ. I want my name on his record. I think this fight makes a lot of sense, and if I win, I go up in the rankings.
If he wins, he goes way up in the rankings, and it makes sense for both of us. I’m coming off three dominant wins, and he’s coming off five stoppage losses in is last seven fights, and I want his name on my record.
I think I would stop him before the end of the fight.”
Hard to imagine it happening
You can certainly understand why Vettori wants to face Weidman, as a win over a former champ would be a solid addition to his record (as he noted). Even if the “All American” has struggled in recent years.
But, Weidman has already shot down the idea, by arguing Vettori needs to beat more top 15 ranked middleweights first. As it stands right now, Weidman is ranked #11 and Vettori is #15.
So, Weidman has a lot more to lose than gain by facing Vettori, who is ten years his junior (Weidman’s 36). It’s also worth noting that Vettori battled Omari Akhmedov to a draw in 2017.
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