UFC 187's Chris Weidman has no interest in Anderson Silva trilogy: 'It's clear to everyone he'll never beat me'

Anderson Silva is finally in Chris Weidman's rear-view mirror. And "All American" wants it to stay that way.

After dethroning the longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion at UFC 162 via knockout (video), Weidman defended his newly-won belt against "The Spider" a few months later at UFC 168. Though the win came after Silva suffered a brutal leg injury, Chris says the victory would have come to him eventually.

That's because there is no way, no how that one of the pound-for-pound best fighters to ever compete in mixed martial arts (MMA) can ever beat him; and you won't convince him otherwise. Which is why Weidman has no interest in a third fight against the Brazilian.

In a column he penned for The Player's Tribune (via MMA Fighting), Chris talked about his history with Silva.

"I wish his leg didn't break. It's not the way I'd like to finish a fight. I know there's no way Anderson Silva could ever beat me, but it still bothers me that it ended that way. It's a huge relief, though, to have the Anderson Silva part of my journey behind me. You put so much pressure on yourself and you believe in yourself, but you never really know what's gonna happen on fight night. For everything to happen just the way I imagined, it's amazing. I wouldn't even be excited for a third fight against Silva. After winning those two fights and having beaten Lyoto Machida to defend the middleweight title since, I need competition. And today, it's clear to everyone what I've known to be true all along: Anderson Silva will never beat me. The competitor in me instantly searches for new goals. Now, I want to clear out my weight class. I want to demolish the next guy, and the next guy and the next guy. I want to beat all the fighters people think I can't beat. I want to retire undefeated. It just doesn't end. Which brings me to my current focus: I want to completely dominate Vitor Belfort on Saturday. I want to make a statement and let everybody know that I'm head and shoulders above everybody else — that I dominate this weight. Once again, I have doubters. Vitor Belfort is very powerful and strong, and a lot of people think he poses a big problem for me. So I'll just have to prove everybody wrong again. I wanna fight him, and I wanna beat him. And I can, and I will. That's my singular focus."

Since his last fight against Silva, each man has competed only once. Silva earned himself a unanimous decision victory over Nick Diaz at UFC 183 earlier this year, while Chris defend his belt against Lyoto Machida at UFC 175 nearly a year ago.

Both have been on the shelf since their last respective bouts, as "All American" was forced to ride the pine after suffering multiple injuries, while "The Spider" is currently suspended from the sport thanks to his failed drug tests.

Weidman, however, will make his heavily-anticipated return to the cage when he battles Vitor Belfort in the co-main event of UFC 187, which goes down this weekend (Sat., May 23, 2015) in Las Vegas, Nevada (details).

To read Weidman's entire column, which includes details about his early wrestling days, his rise through the MMA scene as well as his future goals, click here.