Dana White and his matchmakers have found another spot for what could be Chris Weidman’s last fight in the UFC. The former UFC middleweight champion was supposed to fight Eryk Anders at UFC 309 in Weidman’s home state of New York.
Unfortunately, Anders had a medical situation that forced him out of the fight on Saturday, the same day as the event. The UFC had no time to find a replacement for Anders; thus, the fight was removed from the card. The Weidman-Anders clash will now be rescheduled for December 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for UFC 310.
The fight will be contested at 195 pounds.
Weidman has battled back from serious leg injuries that have cost him several years of his career. However, Weidman, 40, won his last fight, a technical unanimous decision victory over Bruno Silva in March. The win snapped a three-fight losing streak for Weidman, but it was his first victory in four years.
Some, including White, have called for Weidman to retire, but the fan-favorite fighter has continued his career.
After Weidman lost a unanimous decision to Brad Taveras in Boston at UFC 292, a fight that saw the former suffer a severe knee injury, White begged him, “please retire.”
Despite the pleas, Weidman has soldiered on.
Anders, 37, won his last MMA bout, a unanimous decision victory over Jamie Pickett in March. The next fight for Anders could be important for his career in MMA. While the veteran may not be on the cut line, a loss to Weidman could put him on the brink of being released.
For that reason, the Weidman-Anders battle is a bit of a crossroads fight for two veterans who have both seen their best days in the Octagon come and go.
The UFC 310 card has gone through a number of changes, but here is a look at where it stands as of Thursday morning with Tallison Teixeira pulling out of his main-roster debut against Lukasz Brzeski.
- Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Asakura – Flyweight
- Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Ian Machado Garry – Welterweight
- Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov – Heavyweight
- Nate Landwehr vs. Doo Ho Choi – Featherweight
- Bryce Mitchell vs. Kron Gracie – Featherweight
- Anthony Smith vs. Dominick Reyes – Light Heavyweight
- Clay Guida vs. Chase Hooper – Lightweight
- Michael Chiesa vs. Max Griffin – Welterweight
- Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling – Featherweight
- Cody Durden vs. Joshua Van – Flyweight
- ??? vs. Łukasz Brzeski – Heavyweight
- Randy Brown vs. Bryan Battle – Welterweight
- Vicente Luque vs. Themba Gorimbo – Welterweight
- Chris Weidman vs. Eryk Anders – Catchweight
Next Up for the UFC
The UFC will be in Macau early on Saturday morning. The event is headlined by a key bantamweight bout between former champions Petr Yan and Deiveson Figueiredo. Here is a look at the entire card.
- Petr Yan vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
- Xiaonan Yan vs. Tabatha Ricci
- Ozzy Diaz vs. Mingyang Zhang
- Kenan Song vs. Muslim Salikhov
- Cong Wang vs. Gabriella Fernandes
- Volkan Oezdemir vs. Carlos Ulberg
- Carlos Hernandez vs. Nyamjargal Tumendemberel
- Xiaocan Feng vs. Ming Shi
- Kiru Sahota vs. Dong Hoon Choi
- Su Young You vs. Balgyn Jenisuly
- Kangjie Zhu vs. Bin Xie
- Lone’er Kavanagh vs. Jose Ochoa
- Long Xiao vs. Quang Le
- Maheshate Hayisaer vs. Nikolas Motta
