Chris Weidman har fått sina drömmars match då han tar sig an titelhållaren Anderson Silva vid helgens UFC 162, i Las Vegas. Trots att oddsen inte står på utmanarens sida, så har en hel del fighters meddelat att de tror på Weidman, något som gjort Chris mer självsäker än han var innan. Detta var vad titelutmanaren hade att säga via ”MMAJunkie”:
I was kind of getting the feeling a lot of fighters were picking me. It’s awesome that my peers see something in me that I could beat the greatest of all-time. I see it myself, but it gives me a little extra boost of confidence when other guys are seeing it too. Most of them are not even in the gym with me. They’re just going based off my fights. I think the guys that are in the gym with me feel that even more.
Inför titelmatchen har Weidman gjort en del förändringar, då han för en gångs skull haft sina träningar schemalagda:
We made some changes to the camp, actually. It was run a little bit more professionally than usual. We had John Danaher, who kind of stepped up and organized the camp professionally. Things were actually scheduled. We had a camp that kind of concentrated on Anderson’s weaknesses and strengths, and worked on ways to beat him in both areas.
Most of my other camps were very general, and nothing was scheduled. It was kind of like just wake up and call people and work out as hard as I can. But this time, every day was planned out in advance. It was nice to have the comfort of not stressing out about what’s happening every day. Also, it was the first time we brought some people in to train with. I got a bunch of different looks, and I’m real happy with everything and the way it went.
En som Chris tränat med inför mötet med Anderson är UFC-fightern Stephen Thompson, som tidigare har sparrats med Silva, och enligt Weidman kunde Thompson förbereda honom inför mötet med mellanviktsmästaren:
He’s actually sparred Anderson Silva before. He was able to emulate Anderson the best. He’s a little smaller than me, but for the standup, he helped me get used to the quickness. He’s been doing standup since he was like 4 years old, so he’s so relaxed in there, similar to Anderson. That was a big help, too.
Weidman tror på att han kan avsluta mästaren snabbt och smärtfritt, något som vi får se om han klarar av den 6 juli.
Unibet erbjuder Chris Weidman vinst i tredje ronden (15,00)
