Luke Rockhold will defend his middleweight title for the first time in June against the man he took the belt from as he meets Chris Weidman in a rematch at UFC 199.
UFC president Dana White made the announcement on "Garbage Time" with Katie Nolan on FS1 on Wednesday.
"June," White said when asked about the date for Rockhold vs. Weidman 2. "UFC 199."
The rematch has been rumored for several weeks after Rockhold hinted that Weidman had been begging for a second shot when he spoke to FOX Sports back in January.
"I think Chris Weidman, he's been the longtime reigning champion, I know he's begging for a shot," Rockhold said.
"He's been harassing Dana (White) from what I understand since the day after the fight and I'm not opposed to giving him what he wants if he really likes it."
It looks like Weidman is going to get his wish after falling to Rockhold by TKO back at UFC 194 this past December.
Weidman was a three-time defending champion going into the fight, but struggled to deal with Rockhold's speed and power before succumbing to his strikes in the fourth round.
Now it appears Weidman will get a second chance to beat Rockhold with the middleweight belt up for grabs at UFC 199.
While no other fights have been confirmed for the card, former WWE superstar CM Punk has also been rumored to make his debut at UFC 199 in June as well. His opponent could be determined this Saturday night when newcomers Mickey Gall and Mike Jackson battle at UFC Fight Night: Hendricks vs. Thompson.
If Gall wins, he will face Punk later this year although an exact date still hasn't been made official by the UFC.
Not a fan of this, Weidman needs to make some changes and adjust, if he fights the same fight he did last time he's getting creamed again. That said I will be rooting for him as before.
These instant rematches suck but I guess with Romero getting busted and Jacare coming off a loss with no top 5 wins, this is the only respectable title fight they had left.
Fight was razor thin until Weidman threw that stupid spinning back kick, not to mention they both looked like shit after 3 minutes, should be a great fight.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought both of them looked like garbage. They both seemed sloppy and exhausted after 3 minutes.
I think this fight is way too soon for Weidman.
I'd actually prefer to see Jacare getting the shot here. Coming off of a close fight and a split decision loss to someone he peed hot for Jesusjuice shouldn't drop you in the rankings.
A big reason why guys like Weidman, Velasquez, Aldo, Rousey, Jones etc. Is that when you lose the title the UFC has you for one more fight, and I don't think the UFC wants Bellator to put a bid in for Cain, Weidman and Jones unless it's clear that the champ is better.
I'm a big Weidman fan but even I would have rather seen him fight someone else as a tune-up fight. I think he was winning the fight vs Luke by a slim margin until the dumb spinning kick.
Agreed, both fighters looked horribly gassed for a championship fight way too soon.
well this is sort of all according to plan for me except for a couple of details. I thought round one would be better and this feels a little bit like one more scoff at poor Aldo.
I hope they both live up to their potential in round 2. I wonder if Luke would get an instant rematch?
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