One of the UFC’s former middleweight champions, Chris Weidman, is moving up a weight class the next time we see him compete.

According to Ariel Helwani of ESPN.com, Weidman will move up to 205lbs for his next fight. The former champ announced the move up to the light heavyweight division himself, and said he plans on returning to the Octagon this fall.

Chris Weidman just said on the #HelwaniRadioShow moments that he has decided to move up to 205 pounds. He hopes to return around October. We’re live for the next hour+. 1-888-SAY-ESPN.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 8, 2019

Chris Weidman (14-4) most recently was seen last November at UFC 230 when he suffered a third-round knockout loss to Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. Before that he had defeated Kelvin Gastelum via third-round submission, which at the time snapped a three-fight losing skid, with knockout losses to Yoel Romero, Gegard Mousasi and Luke Rockhold.

Weidman started his career undefeated with a 13-0 record and won the UFC middleweight championship in the summer of 2013 with a brutal and shocking KO win over the legend Anderson Silva. He then defeated Silva in a rematch via TKO due to leg injury and then went on to defend his belt against Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort. However, he lost the middleweight belt in December 2015 to Rockhold and has really scuffled since.

The move up to 205lbs should be a good one for Chris Weidman, who ironically is following in the footsteps of Luke Rockhold, who also recently moved up to the light heavyweight division as he takes on Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239 in July.

As for Weidman, there’s no news yet on who his first opponent at 205lbs will be. Just based on the landscape of the division, he could fight a veteran such as Glover Teixeira or perhaps a prospect like Aleksandar Rakic. Either way, Weidman should be in line for a top-15 opponent in his UFC light heavyweight debut.

Who would you like to see Chris Weidman fight first at light heavyweight? Sound off in the comments section Penn Nation!