Chris Weidman turned down a third fight with Anderson Silva at UFC 212

It hasn't exactly been a fire year for the UFC, what with Ronda Rousey gone, Conor McGregor chasing a big Mayweather paycheck, and half the roster refusing to do anything without a bump to their contracted payout. The UFC is obviously trying to keep costs sane, and that leaves us with a whole lot of not much as the promotion and its athletes wait to see who blinks first.

I'm sure a lot of what the UFC almost pulled off would have been amazing if it had actually come together. Unfortunately for UFC president Dana White, he's a bit short on Conor McGregor types willing to fight anyone on short notice. An example of something cool we almost got that never panned out? Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva at UFC 212.

“The UFC was asking me if I would fight Anderson Silva,” Weidman said on the latest episode of The MMA Hour. “This was, I think three and a half weeks before that fight was going on. In Rio, and I’m just like ‘no’. I was still getting things checked out on my body, and going different doctors.”

“I had just gone to Vegas, got it all checked out. I already beat the guy twice, I’m going to take a fight on short notice and head to his hometown to fight him? I’m like ‘yeah, that’s not happening. If you want me to fight Anderson again, bump it up a couple of weeks, if you want to do it in Nassau Colosseum or some other time, but I’m not going to do it on short notice.”

Just more evidence that the UFC really did put in some serious overtime trying to sort out a late opponent for Anderson Silva after Kelvin Gastelum failed a drug test for marijuana. Sadly, nothing came of any of the company's machinations and Silva pulled himself off the card with more than a few angry words for the promotion and Dana White.