'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wgARCAAHAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFQABAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQf/2gAIAQEAAAAAhZ//xAAUAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAC/9oACAECEAAAAF//xAAUAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAC/9oACAEDEAAAAD//xAAiEAACAQIFBQAAAAAAAAAAAAABAhEDBQAEEhMiBhQxUWH/2gAIAQEAAT8A6Wy9u7G6VLtSLB0FHLlRMuGlvRB8QcPYa+ttq0rtzx15vlH3H//EABYRAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEAAv/aAAgBAgEBPwDI3//EABcRAQADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABIAIlH/2gAIAQMBAT8Aark//9k='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
#14 ranked middleweight contender Marvin Vettori took to Twitter to unload on former middleweight champion Chris Weidman for calling out Khamzat Chimaev for a fight in January next year, accusing the former champion of dodging him.
The Italian Marvin Vettori called the former Middleweight champ “the biggest b**ch in the UFC” for turning down a fight with him. Marvin Vettori further went on to cite UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard as a witness in an explosive rant on Twitter, before accusing Weidman of “calling out a welterweight” and “tarnishing" his legacy.
Chris Weidman and Marvin Vettori on different trajectories
Incidentally, Marvin Vettori was in talks to face Weidman after the former champion's lackluster decision win over Omari Akhmedov at UFC Vegas 6 in August. Co-incidentally, the Italian had himself fought to a draw against Akhmedov in December 2017.
While a fight between the two would have made a lot of sense, Weidman went ahead and called out Khamzat for a fight in January, tweeting that the Russian-Swede needed to be ‘humbled’, thus also drawing the ire of the Italian fighter.
While Weidman is the former champion of the division, his fortunes recently have been bleak, to say the least. He is on a 2-5 skid in his last 7 fights with all of his losses coming by the way of knockout.
Marvin Vettori, on the other hand, has been on a slow albeit steady rise in the middleweight division. Apart from his draw against Akhmedov, he served as the second foe in the UFC for current Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya narrowly losing the bout via split decision on UFC on Fox 29 in April 2018.
Marvin Vettori has since gone on to assemble a 3 fight win streak including an impressive first-round submission of Karl Roberson even though the latter missed weight by 5 pounds at UFC Vegas 2 in June earlier this year.
Weidman would have been his first big-name fight in the UFC and one can understand the 27-year-old's frustration.
Weidman is the latest to throw his name in the hat to fight upcoming star Khamzat Chimaev next after the Swede has been linked to fights with Demian Maia and Neil Magny at Welterweight and Darren Till at Middleweight.
UFC, however, is tight-lipped about the Swede's next opponent. While the Khamzat saga continues, Marvin Vettori has surely opened up another interesting war of words in the loaded UFC middleweight division.
