{"id":340479,"date":"2020-02-07T10:27:56","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T18:27:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=340479"},"modified":"2020-02-07T10:27:56","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T18:27:56","slug":"chris-weidman-announces-middleweight-return-vows-to-silence-haters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-announces-middleweight-return-vows-to-silence-haters\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Weidman announces middleweight return, vows to silence haters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chris Weidman isn\u2019t done yet.<\/p>\n<p>After a tough loss to Dominick Reyes in his light heavyweight debut in 2019, the former middleweight champion intends to drop back down to the division he once ruled, and is vowing to shut up his haters in the process.<\/p>\n<p>Weidman updated on his plans in a Friday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B8RmvbVgjAs\/?igshid=vsodpwkpkdpu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Instagram<\/a> post. See what the former champ had to say below:<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B8RmvbVgjAs\/?igshid=vsodpwkpkdpu<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI\u2019ve been through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in my fight career. I really love what I do, and I believe I still have some great moments ahead of me! Can\u2019t wait to shut up all the haters! To all the people that have supported me through the ups and the downs, I appreciate it more than you know. I am more motivated than ever and I know the future is bright. Hopefully getting a fight booked around April back in the MW division<\/em>!\u201d &#8211; Chris Weidman on Instagram.<\/p>\n<p>While Weidman is clearly excited for his fighting future and confident in his chances in the middleweight division, he will have some work to do to return to title contention.<\/p>\n<p>The former champion is a tough 1-5 in his last six fights, having sandwiched a sorely needed submission victory over Kelvin Gastelum between stoppage losses to Luke Rockhold, Yoel Romero, Gerard Mousasi, Ronaldo \u201cJacare\u201d Souza and Reyes. Prior to these losses, Weidman was unbeaten, and most famously defeated Anderson Silva by knockout to capture the UFC middleweight title. He subsequently defended that title in a rematch with Silva and against Brazilian legends Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort.<\/p>\n<p>What do you think the year 2020 holds for the former middleweight king Chris Weidman? Who do you want to see him fight next?<\/p>\n<p>Let us know what you think in the comments section down below.<\/p>\n<p><i>This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>BJPENN.com<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0on 2\/7\/2020.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chris Weidman isn\u2019t done yet. After a tough loss to Dominick Reyes in his light heavyweight debut in 2019, the former middleweight champion intends to drop back down to the division he once ruled, and is vowing to shut up his haters in the process. Weidman updated on his plans in a Friday Instagram post. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":329303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10095,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Chris Weidman announces middleweight return, vows to silence haters | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former UFC middleweight champ Chris Weidman announces he&#039;s returning to 185 pounds and vows to silence his haters going forward.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-announces-middleweight-return-vows-to-silence-haters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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