{"id":358035,"date":"2020-08-07T06:49:17","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T13:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=358035"},"modified":"2020-08-07T06:49:17","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T13:49:17","slug":"chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Weidman defends recent struggles at middleweight: \u201cIt\u2019s all fights that they\u2019re top five guys\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

UFC middleweight Chris Weidman has given his thoughts on the recent struggles he’s experienced at middleweight since losing the title back in late 2015.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Ever since Luke Rockhold brought his tenure as champion to an end in devastating fashion, Weidman has struggled to get back on the horse. In addition to his quick defeat against Dominick Reyes at light heavyweight, the All-American has lost to Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Gegard Mousasi and Yoel Romero – with his only win since 2015 coming against Kelvin Gastelum.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

During a media day appearance ahead of his return on Saturday night, Weidman spoke about why he believes he’s struggled so much in recent years.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all fights that they\u2019re top five guys that I was right in there with and there\u2019s no shame in that,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re all guys I was doing really well against them, other than the (Dominick) Reyes fight. He got me, he kind of got me early, so I wasn\u2019t able to get as much out of that as I\u2019d like to.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s sometimes how mixed martial arts works. So I just know what my potential is, and I know that I did everything right in training, and I\u2019m just going to go out there and put everything on the line and we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Quotes courtesy of MMA Junkie<\/a><\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Weidman is set to go head to head with Omari Akhmedov as he goes in search of a much needed return to the win column<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI just wanted to fight,\u201d Weidman said. \u201cI honestly didn\u2019t really hear of him leading up. I was like who\u2019s that? Even my manager didn\u2019t know. Then I looked him up and he\u2019s been on his way up. He\u2019s been in the UFC for a while, kind of going back and forth between welterweight and middleweight.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cHe\u2019s on a nice win streak and he\u2019s ranked in the top 15. It\u2019s one of the first times I\u2019m not fighting someone in the top five but he\u2019s a tough kid. I think it\u2019s a really good matchup.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI\u2019m taking it very serious. He\u2019s tough but when I look at the guys I\u2019ve fought, I don\u2019t think he\u2019s up there as far as the most talented. I think that\u2019s a fair statement without knocking him.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI need to get a freaking \u2018W,\u201d Weidman said. \u201cI need to get back on my winning ways. I think I have a lot of advantages in this fight but when you\u2019re in there, you never know what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UFC middleweight Chris Weidman has given his thoughts on the recent struggles he’s experienced at middleweight since losing the title back in late 2015. Ever since Luke Rockhold brought his tenure as champion to an end in devastating fashion, Weidman has struggled to get back on the horse. In addition to his quick defeat against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54478,"featured_media":278506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10095,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nChris Weidman defends recent struggles at middleweight: \u201cIt\u2019s all fights that they\u2019re top five guys\u201d | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UFC middleweight Chris Weidman has given his thoughts on the recent struggles he's experienced in the weight class since losing the title back in late 2015.\" \/>\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-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chris Weidman defends recent struggles at middleweight: \u201cIt\u2019s all fights that they\u2019re top five guys\u201d | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UFC middleweight Chris Weidman has given his thoughts on the recent struggles he's experienced in the weight class since losing the title back in late 2015.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-07T13:49:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Chris-Weidman.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Harry Kettle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Harry Kettle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Harry Kettle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/2b63d73ee27460b473ff175d1d273460\"},\"headline\":\"Chris Weidman defends recent struggles at middleweight: \u201cIt\u2019s all fights that they\u2019re top five guys\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-07T13:49:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-07T13:49:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/\"},\"wordCount\":462,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Chris Weidman\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2020\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/\",\"name\":\"Chris Weidman defends recent struggles at middleweight: \u201cIt\u2019s all fights that they\u2019re top five guys\u201d | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-07T13:49:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-07T13:49:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"UFC middleweight Chris Weidman has given his thoughts on the recent struggles he's experienced in the weight class since losing the title back in late 2015.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"UFC\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Chris Weidman defends recent struggles at middleweight: \u201cIt\u2019s all fights that they\u2019re top five guys\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/2b63d73ee27460b473ff175d1d273460\",\"name\":\"Harry Kettle\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/harry-kettle\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chris Weidman defends recent struggles at middleweight: \u201cIt\u2019s all fights that they\u2019re top five guys\u201d | BJPenn.com","description":"UFC middleweight Chris Weidman has given his thoughts on the recent struggles he's experienced in the weight class since losing the title back in late 2015.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chris Weidman defends recent struggles at middleweight: \u201cIt\u2019s all fights that they\u2019re top five guys\u201d | BJPenn.com","og_description":"UFC middleweight Chris Weidman has given his thoughts on the recent struggles he's experienced in the weight class since losing the title back in late 2015.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2020-08-07T13:49:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Chris-Weidman.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Harry Kettle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Harry Kettle","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/"},"author":{"name":"Harry Kettle","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/2b63d73ee27460b473ff175d1d273460"},"headline":"Chris Weidman defends recent struggles at middleweight: \u201cIt\u2019s all fights that they\u2019re top five guys\u201d","datePublished":"2020-08-07T13:49:17+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-07T13:49:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/"},"wordCount":462,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Chris Weidman","UFC"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2020","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/","name":"Chris Weidman defends recent struggles at middleweight: \u201cIt\u2019s all fights that they\u2019re top five guys\u201d | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-08-07T13:49:17+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-07T13:49:17+00:00","description":"UFC middleweight Chris Weidman has given his thoughts on the recent struggles he's experienced in the weight class since losing the title back in late 2015.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/chris-weidman-defends-recent-struggles-at-middleweight-its-all-fights-that-theyre-top-five-guys\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"UFC","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Chris Weidman defends recent struggles at middleweight: \u201cIt\u2019s all fights that they\u2019re top five guys\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/2b63d73ee27460b473ff175d1d273460","name":"Harry Kettle","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/harry-kettle\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358035"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54478"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}