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UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman is confident ahead of his UFC 194 title defense against Luke Rockhold. So confident, in fact, that he told Ariel Helwani on last week's The MMA Hourthat he thought the surging Rockhold's tough talk in the media bout him was just a display of insecurity.
"I'm excited to go out there and just really run through Luke," Weidman said. "I just really cannot imagine myself losing to him. I know he'll talk the same way, but I think he's just kind of faking it. I don't think he really believes he can beat me, but he knows what to say.
"These guys know in the weight (class), I think they're starting to get it. And he's one of the guys who knows. I think he's a little insecure about himself, and I feel like that's why he has to pump his chest up all the time and go a little overboard. I think he's just insecure and I think he knows what's coming. I think he'd much rather be fighting anyone else besides me."
Consider the ante upped. Still, Rockhold finds the comments from Weidman perplexing or perhaps some bizarre psychological experiment.
"I really don't know what's going through his head," Rockhold told Ariel Helwani on Monday's The MMA Hour. "He's a psychology major, right? Maybe he's just messing with himself. I don't know. He's built these things up in his head. I don't know what he's reading into, but he's about to wake up to a different story come 12/12 [the date of their fight].
"I don't see where he sees weakness in my game and what I've brought to the table. I've been through some tough battles through my career and he's seen a lot of those in the past, in my Strikeforce days and I think I've proven myself even more so now," he noted. "People haven't seen the wars, in UFC, that I've had in Strikefore and what I am capable of. I can dig deep and I just don't know where he thinks he's going to break me. I think he is underestimating every part of my game. He's going to be surprised when he tries to wrestle and I'm shutting him down everywhere. This will ultimately probably end up on the feet. I don't see what he brings to the table."
In fact, as Rockhold sees it, Weidman's built up an identity that based on a false sense of security. Yes, he's the champion and yes, he has big names on his resume. But those names are just that: names without much more to show for Weidman's efforts.
"He's fought a bunch of guys that were scared of him. He fought a one-legged 'spider', a fireless 'dragon' and an 'old lion' with his balls cut off. I mean, this time he's facing a different animal at this point in time and I'm going to bring it to him on all levels and shut him down," he argued. "I think he knows he's in for a fight. He's known this was going to be a fight a long time ago and it's finally here. He's just kinda building himself up any way possible."
The back and forth in the media has been a battle of confidence, who can project the most strength while assuming the fewest weaknesses. On that front, Weidman has noted how they've both fared against mutual opposition, in particular Vitor Belfort. Where Rockhold was stopped in the first-round via strikes off of a blistering kick, Weidman stopped the former Brazilian champion in a round. That argument, Rockhold argued, is deeply mistaken and part of Weidman's delusions.
"He keeps comparing out Vitor Belfort fights. That's a bad way to look at things. We fought different guys," Rockhold claimed, noting the Belfort he fought was on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) while Weidman did not. "On that night, I got caught by a crazy kick and he got caught by an old saggy Vitor and still almost got him. If you want to compare a fight, you compare our [Lyoto] Machida fights. We fought a pretty similar Machida. I think he came back, almost got Weidman, had a nice showing against C.B. Dollaway and then came back in with a lot of confidence and hype behind him and I completely shut him down. Weidman could barely hold him down at times and you saw what I was able to do to him."
Rockhold actually views the Belfort experience more fondly. Whereas he sees Weidman as having convinced himself of greatness based on not-so meaningful wins, Rockhold views himself as having a tougher, slower path that is only now starting to pay dividends. Rockhold believes that's grounded him in reality and given him confidence about the upside he's yet to attain.
Luke Rockhold calls his shot against Chris Weidman: 'A left kick or a left hand' will finish him - MMA Fighting
