Chris Weidman booked against top-15 middleweight in return bout

Former UFC middleweight contender Chris Weidman has been booked against Omari Akhmedov for his return to the Octagon this summer.

According to Igor Lazorin of TASS, Weidman vs. Akhmedov will take place at a UFC event that is planned for August 8 (via Marcel Dorff). At this time, it has not reported if this fight will be the main event of this card or part of the event’s undercard. MMAjunkie.com later confirmed the bout.

Weidman was previously booked to fight Jack Hermansson in the main event of UFC Oklahoma City. However, the coronavirus pandemic led to that card being canceled. Hermansson was instead booked to fight Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Fight Night: Figueiredo vs. Benavidez 2 on July 18 at Fight Island in Abu Dhabi. That left Weidman without an opponent, but thankfully the UFC was able to secure him another ranked fighter in the form of Akhmedov.

The former UFC middleweight champ Weidman has seen better days. “The All-American” is coming off of back-to-back KO losses to Dominick Reyes and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and overall he has lost five of his last six fights by way of knockout. Weidman’s lone victory in the last five years was a submission win over Gastelum in July 2017. Other than that, he has really struggled badly ever since dropping his belt to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194. The struggles have left Weidman on the outside looking in at the middleweight top-15.

As for Akhmedov, he is not a big name by any means, but he is ranked No. 11 in the UFC middleweight division. Akhmedov is 8-3 overall in the UFC and is coming off of three straight wins over Ian Heinisch, Zak Cummings, and Tim Boetsch. Overall, he is unbeaten over his last six fights. A win over Weidman here and Akhmedov could very well get a top-10 opponent for his next fight.

Who do you think wins, Chris Weidman or Omari Akhmedov?