Chris Weidman has lofty goals for himself in the UFC, as any fighter should after winning the middleweight belt from Anderson "The Spider" Silva via knockout then breaking his leg in the rematch. This Saturday Weidman, the "All American," will be in action once again as he looks to move beyond the Silva fights and defeat another quality opponent, Lyoto Machida.
"I'm happy to move past it, but it's also kind of a bummer to move past Anderson Silva because it was a big part of my life," Weidman said in a chat with the Great MMA Debate Podcast.
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"I was visualizing fighting that guy since I got into the sport. So he was a big motivating factor in my life for a long time so to move past it is kind of bittersweet. Now I get to start my own era and show everybody what I'm made of."
While Machida isn't on the level of Silva, there may not be another mixed martial artist in history who is. Weidman told Great MMA Debate that his goal is to be remembered as one of the greatest fighters of all time, and that recognition includes defeating the best challengers his weight class has to offer.
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"I want to be known as one of the greatest of all time," Weidman said. "To do that, I've got a current list of guys in front of me in my weight class to fight and beat that can give me a legacy. My goal -- I've just got to keep winning. Keep winning fights. Hold on to the belt as long as possible. Clear out the division, maybe some super fights and call it a day."
He not only wants to beat Machida, he wants to "finish" him. Machida's style is known to be frustrating to his opponents, as he will always wait patiently for attacks so that he can counter. It seems like Weidman will oblige him, and he's extremely confident he'll succeed.
"I feel like anyone at middleweight, when I have a full training camp, I'm going to go out there and finish them. That's my mentality. I won't stop. The whole fight will be me trying to finish him. If it goes five rounds, I'm not losing the decision because I'm almost finishing him the whole time. I'm always prepared for a war, but I'm looking for the finish the whole time. I won't be happy unless I finish him."
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