Now that Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight king Robert Whittaker has defeated Yoel Romero for the second time at UFC 225, the remaining Top-5 middleweights are jockeying for position to secure the next title shot.
Two of those top middleweights have been trading shots back and forth on social media, each making a case for his own shot at UFC gold while diminishing the other’s accomplishments. Former divisional champ Chris Weidman and Kelvin Gastelum were friendly and polite leading into their fight at UFC on Fox 25 last July, but that good will has been tossed out of the window now that the stakes are higher.
Gastelum began the heated exchange on Wednesday, calling Weidman “Chrispy” and challenging his claim to the next title shot on Twitter:
Chrispy??? Now it’s personal…my argument is simple. I am ranked ahead of YOU and I finished YOU in my last fight. https://t.co/EaqAPvdINm
— Chris Weidman (@chrisweidman) June 14, 2018
Weidman submitted “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 17 winner with a third round arm-triangle choke at their meeting last year, but Gastelum did find success early on, dropping the former champion with punches at the end of the first round. The victory was Weidman’s first since 2015, having lost three fights in a row by knockout to Luke Rockhold, Yoel Romero and Gegard Mousasi.
Gastelum has fought twice since the loss to Weidman, scoring an emphatic first-round knockout over former champion Michael Bisping before eking out a split decision win over Ronaldo Souza at UFC 224. Both victories earned Gastelum bonus cash: “Fight of the Night” for the Souza fight and “Performance of the Night” for the knockout of Bisping, in what ended up being The Count’s last fight.
Meanwhile, Whittaker won’t be defending his belt anytime soon, as the middleweight champ broke his right hand against Romero. “Bobby Knuckles” underwent surgery to fix the hand on Thursday. Although Whittaker stated he would like to fight again towards the end of the year, it is unlikely he will be medically cleared any time soon.