Chris Weidman Wants To Avenge His First Career Loss Against Luke Rockhold At Light Heavyweight

Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman is ready to kick-start his career at light heavyweight and has eyed a future fight against the man to hand him his very first professional loss, Luke Rockhold.

Weidman previously met Rockhold back at UFC 194 in a middleweight championship fight when the “All-American” was the undefeated champion. Rockhold put on a striking clinic on the night; largely nullifying Weidman’s wrestling game and finishing him in the fourth round to claim the belt.

Fast forward to 2019 and both Weidman and Rockhold have made the decision to move up a weight class to light heavyweight citing the tough weight cut to 185 pounds. Weidman told TMZ that he’d love to get his loss back against Rockhold but acknowledged it might take some time to get that shot (via MMAJunkie.com):

“That’s definitely on the agenda. I don’t know if that would be my first fight or not, but I think your first loss definitely hurts the most. To have the opportunity to get that one back is definitely something I want to do.

“I’ve got to fight some other guys first, but at some point, that’s the goal. When I was at 185, the goal was to hold the belt at 185 for as long as I could, then go up to 205 and win the belt over there.

“It didn’t work according to my plan perfectly. But now I’m at 205, and I definitely think I have the tools to beat [Jones].”

Rockhold’s debut at 205 pounds is against the crafty Jan Blachowicz this Saturday night at UFC 239. Weidman’s first opponent at light heavyweight hasn’t been made official yet.