This past weekend at UFC 309 former middleweight champion Chris Weidman (16-7) who is from New York was supposed to have a hometown fight. Weidman was set to take on Eryk “Ya Boi” Anders (16-8, 1 NC) on the prelims at Madison Square Garden.
Both fighters successfully made weight on Friday and Weidman was on his way to the arena on Saturday when he learned some unfortunate news. Weidman was called by UFC brass and they let him know that Anders had become sick and the fight was cancelled. Weidman was completely gutted at missing the opportunity to pickup his second straight win in front of his hometown crowd.
That said, Weidman won’t have to wait long before getting back in the octagon. The promotion announced yesterday that at UFC 310 on December 7th in Las Vegas, the two men will fight. They will not be fighting at middleweight, but at a catchweight of 195 pounds.
UFC 310
This fight is a very big spot for Eryk Anders getting to face a former world champion in Weidman. He’s very fortunate that the promotion just decided to run this one back after the last minute cancellation. After starting his career a perfect 10-0, it’s been a little rough sledding for Anders over the past six years. Anders is 6-8, 1 NC in his last fifteen fights.
That said, he is coming off of a win. He defeated Jamie Pickett at a UFC Fight Night back in March. He’s 2-1 in his last three with the lone loss being a decision loss to Marc-Andre Barriault. That win in March earned him this fight against Weidman.
In 2015, Chris Weidman was looked at as the second best fighter in the world only behind Jon Jones. Weidman was the undefeated middleweight champion who had dethroned one of the greatest in UFC history, Anderson Silva.
Then, Weidman lost his title to Luke Rockhold. Starting with the Rockhold fight, Weidman would lose three in a row. He bounced back with a big win over Kelvin Gastelum, but then he got knocked out by Jacare Souza. He moved up to light heavyweight for one fight and was knocked out by Dominick Reyes.
He successfully returned to middleweight and then looked for his second win in a row against Uriah Hall at UFC 261 in 2021. It was the promotion’s first US PPV in front of fans after the start of covid. Weidman had a horrific night shattering his leg in the first 17 seconds of the fight. It took Weidman two and a half years, but he made his return last August.
Weidman lost a tough decision against Brad Tavares and then took on Bruno Silva in Atlantic City back in March. For Weidman, it was a make-or-break fight. Had he lost, he would’ve retired. Weidman looked really solid winning the first two rounds.
After an accidental eye poke in the third round, they went to a technical decision with Weidman scoring the win. Now, the former UFC champion will look for his second straight win which would be the first time he’s won back-to-back fights since he started 13-0.