Bisping is down for fight with Vitor to gets his shot at the title.

http://www.espn.co.uk/ufc/sport/story/177227.html



Gotta respect the guy. He could wait and fight tim/weidman winner and it would be a safer fight. But bisping even says he would jump at the oppertunity to fight Vitor (some thing even weidman said no way too.) and even closed by saying if i win great give me a shot at the title and if i lose well then i dont deserve one.

This fight is rumored right now, but this rumor has been spreading like crazy and i think it will happen. It would take place in brazil too.

Vitor is almost as bad of a match up as Weidman is for Mikey... I'll take either. They both will beat Bisping so I'm good either way.

Chrom wrote:

Vitor is almost as bad of a match up as Weidman is for Mikey... I'll take either. They both will beat Bisping so I'm good either way.

your going feel down right silly when the count takes them both out!!!

He might be able to get on his bike and out jab Vitor for 3 rounds MAYBE
But he has no chance against a wrestler with finishing GnP

Chrom wrote:

He might be able to get on his bike and out jab Vitor for 3 rounds MAYBE
But he has no chance against a wrestler with finishing GnP

Yeah i do agree with that Vitor would be the better fight for Bisping. The biggest thing for bisping is just getting by that first round. If bisping does that i think he will pick him apart with his boxing and probably shoot in for a lot of take downs to avoid the big shots(like he did with Stann). Vitor just doesnt look the same after the first round. As far as weidman goes I still havent seen enough out of him to be able to give an opinon on right now. i want to see how he handles Tim in his next fight. He should beat tim but the guy has been making some big upsets happen so who knows? Nothing against weidman it's just his last 2 opponets didnt look that hot to me. maia looked like crap in there fight and munoz looked out of shape and just not like he usually performs, but thats not weidmans fault either. he showed up to fight and won plain and simple.

That's cool. Although, I'd rather Bisping just get the title shot now (assuming Silva/Jones doesn't get inked anytime soon).

Then let Weidman/Boetch vs Belcher/Vitor happen for the next shot.

First off, it's no fantastic show of sprotsmanship to be more willing than Chris Weidman to take fights. That guy is the poster boy hypocrite when it comes to calling out the champ for dodging him and then proceeding to dodge every other fighter in the division.

Aside from that, I think Bisping is right. He's a terrible match-up for Weidman or Boetsch. He's historically done very well against those kinds of fighters.
But on the other hand, he'd probably get Hendo'd if he fought Vitor. Vitor's hands are just as fast or faster than Bisping's, and I think his boxing as a whole is a little cleaner, as well. And obviously, he hits a shit-ton harder than Bisping. But Bisping is probably a faster fighter overall, so he may be able to get on his bike and point Vitor to death.

Triggerman99 wrote:

First off, it's no fantastic show of sprotsmanship to be more willing than Chris Weidman to take fights. That guy is the poster boy hypocrite when it comes to calling out the champ for dodging him and then proceeding to dodge every other fighter in the division.

Aside from that, I think Bisping is right. He's a terrible match-up for Weidman or Boetsch. He's historically done very well against those kinds of fighters.
But on the other hand, he'd probably get Hendo'd if he fought Vitor. Vitor's hands are just as fast or faster than Bisping's, and I think his boxing as a whole is a little cleaner, as well. And obviously, he hits a shit-ton harder than Bisping. But Bisping is probably a faster fighter overall, so he may be able to get on his bike and point Vitor to death.

I do agree with you there, I just put that remark in my original post to make a point that if weidman wins his fight and bisping does fight and beats vitor then bisping should get the first crack at the title over weidman. just for the fact alone bisping will fight whoever they put in front of him and was willing to fight a guy that another top contender wouldnt have anything to do with.

Whoa whoa Trigger where do you get your info from? Weidman never turned down a fight because he didn't want it or because it was tough...
He turned down a challenge from Vitor when, at the time Dana, the UFC and everyone else was saying he was going to be fighting Silva. But then Silva and his management, turned around and pulled the "Our shit doesn't stink and everyone in the MW division isn't worthy." So yeah I suppose Chris said no... only on the assumption that he was fighting a much much tougher opponent.

I don't have it in front of me right now, but I remember Dana saying he would like to see Weidman/Vitor (or perhaps Weidman/Bisping, I can't recall for sure), and Weidman responded by basically saying "No, I deserve a title shot and nothing less, because i feel I've erned the right to be called the #1 contender".

I'll see if I can find some quotes.

The only thing I could find was him turning down Vitor in lieu of a title fight. Dana was telling him he was getting it, the UFC brass said it was an interesting fight and basically the rest of the non-Silva nut hugging world thought it was the right fight to set up.

Its not dodging, it was the UFC yanking his chain, that was caused by Silva and his management pulling shenanigans.

That would be like saying the Vikings are ducking the Lions only to play the 49ers....
or something like that, I'm a bit sick and my brain is muddled.... I just think you calling him a hypocrite is far off.

Sorry, I got sidetracked at work.

I was slightly off track when I said Dana tried to set up Weidman/Belfort. What was actually happening was Dana was trying to more or less get things figured out as far as making some more match-ups to see who gets the next shot, and Weidman wanted to do nothing other than say "no" to everything unless it was a title shot.

Here's one from August 10th, where Weidman says he wants to fight Silva, but it hasn't been offered yet:
http://mmajunkie.com/news/30142/chris-weidman-on-ufc-champ-anderson-silva-i-can-go-out-there-and-finish-him.mma

Quote :

"Right now my mindset is 100 percent on Anderson Silva because no one told me for it not to be," Weidman said. "That's the fight that I think has a good chance of happening. There's so many different variables going with that, it's weird. It's so different from what I'm used to. But it looks like I have a shot at getting Anderson Silva, and that's what I'm focused on. That's the gold. That's the championship. That's Anderson Silva, and that's what I want."

That sounds a lot more like a guy gunning for a title shot than it does a guy being told he is 100% getting a title shot.

And here's one from a few weeks earlier where Vitor calls him out, but Weidman says no:
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/7/24/3181124/ufc-153-vitor-belfort-wants-to-fight-chris-weidman-brazil-mma-news

Quote :

Today, Vitor Belfort said, via Twitter, that he wants Weidman before either fight Silva:
Guys I spoke to joe silva and ask to fight with the top contender #weidman here in brasil so I think this is the fight that will credence me to a title fight so that is what happened.
I want the belt but I am not desperate I think weidman is the next for the belt,but Anderson silva deserve to see who is next .So let`s make this fight the next #contender belfort vs weidman the next contender for #andersonsilvaThe next event being held in Brazil is UFC 153 on October 13 in Rio de Janeiro. Belfort is coming off to first round finishes since he last challenged for the title at UFC 126. Belfort seems to realize he needs a title shot soon if he's going to get one. He has already hinted recently that he may not have many fights left at Middleweight.
Seeing Vitor's challenge this morning, Chris Weidman responded via Twitter that he's not interested in a fight with Vitor at all right now.
Love ya @vitorbelfort but you already had your shot at the belt and Im sure u will have another in the future.Rt now is my time though @ufc— Chris Weidman (@ChrisWeidmanUFC) July 24, 2012
Obviously, Weidman is pushing for a direct title shot, as he should coming off back to back top ten wins in the division. However, the biggest issue, right now, is that Anderson Silva has not said when he plans to return. If he wants to take some time off, this fight is a real possibility.

And here's yet another one where Weidman outright says he refuses to fight anybody other than Silva, even though Dana still has not said it is going to happen:

http://www.mmaweekly.com/middleweight-soap-opera-weidman-wants-silva-belfort-asks-for-weidman-belcher-asks-for-belfort

Quote :

Chris Weidman fresh off his victory over Mark Munoz at UFC on Fuel TV 4 believes he’s the man to face Anderson Silva next for the UFC middleweight title, and no other fight makes a lot of sense for him.

“I feel like I really deserve it. I beat two top five guys and I think I’m a stylistic nightmare for Anderson Silva. I would love to get that shot. No one else is on a five-fight win streak and beat the quality of guys I’ve beaten. I’m ready to speak up a little bit, just be confident in my abilities and respectfully call out Anderson Silva,” Weidman told MMAWeekly Radio.

Despite Weidman’s pleas for a shot at Anderson Silva, UFC president Dana White still seems unsure of who will face the champion next and there may be a sort of “round-robin” de facto tournament to finally declare who will be the contender worthy of challenging the greatest titleholder in UFC history.

And finally, here's one from right around that same time, where Dana says he nas not named a #1 contender yet. Though, to be fair, he does make mention of Weidman as being "impressive" in his last fight, but doesn't go so far as to call him the next in line.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/dana-white-says-anderson-silva-still-has-no-next-opponent

Quote :

Just days ago, UFC President Dana White teased that he would have some major revelations to make after UFC 149 ended, but once it was over he changed his tune.

“To be honest you know me, I am in no mood right now to even talk about that,” White told Fuel TV when asked about the middleweight division after the event.

While there was no direct reference made after the show ended, a lot of the plans at middleweight hinged on the fight between Tim Boetsch and former Bellator champion Hector Lombard. The end result was Lombard’s winning streak coming to a very unimpressive end, while Boetsch most likely suffered a broken foot en route to victory.

So instead of having a new No. 1 contender crowned, White could only say that no one stands out head and shoulders above the crowd and more fights will have to happen before Anderson Silva finds his next challenger.

“No, there’s going to be some fights that happen before any of these guys fight Anderson Silva,” White revealed.

The overall mood from White could only be described as somber after what he hoped was going to be an explosive fight between Boetsch and Lombard turned into a fizzled out performance from the highly hyped former Bellator champion.

White was looking for someone, anyone to come out and stake their claim to the top spot at middleweight, much like Chris Weidman did in his fight just over a week ago against Mark Munoz at UFC on Fuel TV 4.

“When I talk about guys fighting for the next fight and guys who are possibly going to fight for world titles, I like dominant performances. (Chris) Weidman, I want to see a guy like Weidman come in out of nowhere and take out the No. 2, No. 3 guy in the world the way that he did. We’ll see what happens,” said White.

Weidman’s impressive performance aside, White says he’s still not next in line for a title shot, and for now the No. 1 contender remains a mystery.

So, to make a long story short, Chris Weidman was never the undisputed #1 contender, and was never offered a fight with Silva, but was still turning down fights and saying he will only fight Silva.

On the flip side of that though you seemed to have over looked what Dana was saying and what the general consensus was, before those quotes you have. I'd like to see an actual time line on this....
this was a quote from around the 21-22nd

Dana wrote:

"If I had to right now say we have to
make a fight right now because Anderson wants to fight in two months,
I'd do the Weidman fight," White said. "I haven't talked to (Anderson)
yet. He does want to fight. He's ready to go again. But I haven't talk
to him yet."

"An impressive win's going to give somebody a title shot," White
continued. "I'm looking for a guy who goes out and performs like
Weidman. You go in and you're ranked low in the Top 10 and you take out
No. 2 or 3 the way [he] did – that's what I'm excited about."

Quote :

Penick's Analysis: I'd imagine
Weidman could be the man in line for the next title shot, while the UFC
attempts to figure out the rest of the division. The Lombard-Boetsch
winner was likely in line then to take on either Weidman or Alan
Belcher, possibly even Vitor Belfort, and the end result of that fight
won't allow it to happen. If I had to guess, I think we'll see
Belcher-Belfort, with the winner fighting the Bisping-Stann winner, and
Weidman taking on Silva in the next title bout.

source
If thats what you hear, as Weidman, on top of all the positive things in the press... one can assume the title is in his grasp. Dana says he is the next in line on the 21st or so, Vitor sends challange on the 23rd... Weidman turns down the fight assuming Silva is going to take it. But, like I said that all changed when

Quote :

Silva and his management, turned around and pulled the "Our shit doesn't stink and everyone in the MW division isn't worthy."

The only reason he turned it down was because he was being told he was next in line at the time Vitor sent out the challenge. Chris Weidman turned down Vitor Belfort bout for a fight with Anderson Silva

But the quote you just posted was Dana saying absolutely nothing commital.
You are saying "Dana said he is next in line", but that's not at all what he said. I don't know who that Pennick guy is, and don't put much weight into someone's "analysis" of what they think someone meant with what they said.
Exact Dana quote from your post:

Quote :

"If I had to right now say we have to
make a fight right now because Anderson wants to fight in two months,
I'd do the Weidman fight "

That is not Dana saying "This is the fight I am making". That is Dana speaking hypothetically.

Exact Dana quote from my post:

Quote :

“No, there’s going to be some fights that happen before any of these guys fight Anderson Silva,”

I don't think it gets much clearer than that. By the way, this quote was from the July 22, before Vitor sent out the challenge to Weidman, so the arguement that Weidman was misled doesn't hold any water.


Look, I'm not saying he should have had to fight Vitor to get a title shot, but the evidence certainly lends credibility to my opinion when I say Weidman is acting hypocritically.

fair enough, the time line is solid...

Ahhhhhh!!!!
I love it when a debate ends peacefully and cordially; just as it should. Massive man-up props to you, my friend. It's always a pleasure to trade opinions with you, even though it seems to happen over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. LOL!!

I will, however, go on record right now and concede that Weidman is a little bit of a scary prospect for me when it comes to being a Silva fan, based on the stylistic problem he poses. I'm not saying he would beat Silva, I'm just saying he could beat him.

Hey, that's the best I can manage right now. I'm trying!