Now that Chris Weidman is the new king in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight division, thanks to his devastating knockout of former champion Anderson Silva at UFC 162 last weekend (July 6, 2013), the challengers are lining up at "All American's" door.
Michael Bisping and Vitor Belfort took to Twitter over the weekend to plead for their chance to be the first person to try to attempt to end Weidman's title run before it begins.
And for what it's worth, Weidman says "The Phenom" deserves the fight more than "The Count" at this point.
Belfort, however, took his pleas one step further during a recent appearance on "The MMA Hour," citing his resume and most recent "exciting" wins over Luke Rockhold and the aforementioned Bisping as reason enough to warrant him the next crack at the strap.
He makes his case:
"Who deserves that title shot more than me? Come on. Look at what I did to the top two contenders. I defeated the world champion of Strikeforce. I defeated the No. 1 contender of the UFC, Michael Bisping. I not just defeated them, but I defeated them in (exciting) fashion."
Furthermore, Belfort decided it was time to collect on past favors he did for the ZUFFA-owned mixed martial arts (MMA) company, such as stepping up on short notice to challenge light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, and says UFC needs to have a system in place to determine who gets the title shot.
His words:
"I think we need to start having rules. I'm in a position where I don't earn [a title shot] for all I did and for all I'm doing. So I think, my perspective, I earned that shot. I think that fans, media, they all agree with that. The UFC, when they need me, I step into the cage. Every time they need me, I step into the cage. Two week's notice, I stepped up to fight Jon Jones. No excuses. I didn't ever give an excuse about what I had, what kind of injuries I had. But I was there, and that's something that some people [can't say]. When they give that fight to me, when they look in my eyes, when they shake hands, they know who I am. They know what I bring to the table."
While Belfort agrees Anderson does deserve a rematch against Weidman, he thinks a more "sellable" fight would be for "The Spider" to take on the winner of a fight between him and Weidman.
"I really believe Anderson deserves another chance at the title, but I think there'd be more interest in me and Chris, and then the winner will take Anderson. I think that'd be more sellable. Anderson has to rest. He doesn't want to make any decisions before that, and I respect what he did for the sport. But we cannot stop. We cannot stop a division because someone is waiting for a fighter to make a decision. What makes sense is me and Chris to fight. We could make that fight right now. We could sign the papers, sign the contract next week."
UFC President Dana White emphatically claimed that, regardless of Belfort's constant pleas for a world title shot, he is going to have to wait to see if Silva changes his mind and accepts a rematch against "All American."
To that end, Belfort replied by saying it doesn't make sense to have an entire division on hold while waiting to see what a certain fighter is going to do with his career.
Even if that man is the greatest fighter in the history of the sport.