Former UFC Middleweight champ Chris Weidman reveled in a recent interview that the UFC offered him a shot at rising star Khamzat Chimaev. A rib injury prevented the fight from happening in 2020, so Weidman is hoping for a return to the octagon in mid-January.

They offered me Chimaev. I said yes. Then I started getting really excited about it, and then I said, ‘Well, so I’ve got a little bit of a rib injury right now, a cartilage rib injury.’ And if you’re anybody who’s had that, it’s just a pain in the ass. You’ve got to be really careful with not re-injuring it or bothering it. So I’ve kind of got to work around that right now. So I told them, ‘I’m down to fight whoever at mid-January, but I really want that Chimaev fight,’ just because of everyone acting as if everyone is scared of him and all that. And to me, I always want to fight the best guys. And so if everybody thinks he’s that good, let’s see it.

Chris Weidman on Submission Radio

Weidman Is Taking A Big Risk With Potential Chimaev Fight

Although Weidman is a former champ, he needs to really think about what is the next best match up for his career. A win over Chimaev would be a huge for Weidman, but a loss would be disastrous for his MMA career. Chimaev is a rising star, but is the risk worth the reward? I think if Chimaev defeats Edwards in December the chances of Weidman getting a shot at him will be slim to none. A win over Edwards would skyrocket Chimaev’s career and he would be looking at much bigger matches in the Welterweight division.

Weidman needs to improve his cardio and fight someone in the top 10 before asking for a big fight against someone like Chimaev. I get the appeal of Chimaev and why Weidman would want the fight, but losing to the rising star would be devastating to Weidman’s record. It will be interesting to see what happens in December with the Chimaev vs Edwards fight.