Chris Weidman Confident Light Heavyweight Title Shot Looms with Win at UFC Boston

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Chris Weidman will make his 205-pound debut on Friday when he takes on the surging undefeated Dominick Reyes at UFC on ESPN 6 and believes a win over his opponent will propel him to a title fight against Jon Jones.

The 35-year-old Weidman has won just once in his last five fights at middleweight and the former champ made the decision to move up a division and will come head-to-head with a man some people claim is capable of knocking off the division’s champ in Reyes.

Weidman is confident he can prove the doubters wrong on Friday by beating Reyes and believes a win will give him the shot at Jones, who he’s targeted since his days as the middleweight champ (via MMAJunkie.com):

“I think so, because of what I accomplished in the past and coming in against a guy who’s undefeated ranked fourth in the world in that weight class,” Weidman said when asked about a prospective title fight after Friday’s card. “If I go out there and do what I believe I can do, I don’t think you can really deny it. Especially because Jon Jones has faced most of the top guys and beat most of the top guys. Why not?”

Weidman has said on numerous occasions that he’s confident he has the tools to topple Jones and criticised the way “Bones” has fought in his last two bouts against two athletes Weidman described as middleweights:

“I always believed I had the ability to beat him,” Weidman said. “I always imagined defending my belt until I decided to stop, and then going up and beating him, too. Obviously, it didn’t work out as planned for me. This new plan works out just fine. He definitely looks very beatable after watching his last two fights against two 185 pounders.”