UFC President Dana White announced the news on “UFC Tonight” that UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman will make his next title defense against Luke Rockhold at a date and venue that will be named later.
“We don’t have that fight set up yet, we don’t know when it’s going to be, but that will be the fight,” White said. “Luke Rockhold will get the next shot at the title.”
Weidman (13-0) is coming off his third consecutive title defense, finishing Vitor Belfort in the first round at UFC 187. Rockhold (14-2) is coming off an impressive second round submission win over Lyoto Machida in his last outing. However, it wasn’t clear if Rockhold would get the title shot because Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza was also in the mix after winning his fifth consecutive fight in the UFC. Souza bested Chris Camozzi on the same event that Rockhold defeated Machida after Camozzi agreed to fight on short notice when Souza’s original opponent pulled out of the fight. It was Souza’s second win over Camozzi who was Souza’s first UFC win in 2013.
It probably wasn’t a huge contributing factor, but Rockhold does hold a decision win over Souza from their Strikeforce days in 2011.
Stay tuned to ProMMAnow.com for more information on the date and venue of this fight.