MMAWeekly had this tagline: "Despite getting a knockout win over the No. 1 middleweight contender in the world, Vitor Belfort seems hell bent on getting a rematch with Jon Jones for his
I never thought Bisping was the no 1 contender. He might be the no 1 contender of the guys who havent fought Anderson. Vitor imo is the no 1 contendor.
Bisping definitely didn't deserve a title shot even with a win over belfort, it was just the biggest money fight at middleweight for them to make with anderson. i say do rockhold vs silva the rest of the division is kinda tied up, not saying rockhold deserves it but champion vs champion would be coo...
Of course he was not the #1 contender. Bisping will never be a top a 5 MW. He has lost to every top level fighter he has been matched against: Vitor, Sonnen, Wandy, Hendo. He is a B+ fighter.
Weidman is the most legit contender at MW right now and even if Bisping beat Vitor I would still favor Weidman over Bisping. Vitor arguably is just behind Weidman, but no one really wants to see that rematch again. I have no idea what Anderson will do now. If Bisping won it would have been easy for Anderson to fight Bisping sometime in the early Summer which is when Weidman will be ready for a fight and he could have fought for a #1 contender fight and then Anderson could have fought him in the winter, but Vitor messed everything up lol
Bisping was the #1 contender, with Weidman out until the summer, Sonnen at LHW, and Vitor fighting Jones at 205. Everyone else at MW who could arguably be a top 5 fighter lost recently on top of that, save for Yushin Okami, who probably isn't even a top 5 fighter (if he beats Lombard he will be in the definitive title picture). Once Weidman comes back, he'll probably be the #1 contender, if not Vitor. Hopefully the UFC is smart, and decides to make that into a title eliminator. And hopefully the lack of challengers makes a miracle happen... Anderson willing to do superfights (I doubt it). That's about all he has left, save for fighting Weidman (once he's healthy), a bunch of rematches with fighters he beat, and scrubs at 205 he could whack around. If Anderson beats Weidman, there will literally be no top MWs' left he can fight on the current MW roster, save for guys he has already scraped (unless Lombard wins against top opponents more, starting with Okami; or if Bisping reverses his fortune within a year or so). It's getting to the point where unless he likes rematches, he might have to retire the belt.
All the "number 1 contender" meant was that he'd get a title shot if he won. If this was a number 1 contender fight Vitor would be getting a shot now but that ain't happening.
Now that I think about it, Jacare might be able to go on a run, along with Rockhold. Still, that's hypothetical questions. As it stands, nobody looks really willing to fight Silva and could even having an argument for "earning it" except for Weidman and Belfort.
"Contender" status doesn't mean much. If the scheduling lined up (in the event Bisping would have won) then he would have got the next shot at Anderson. But maybe one of them gets injured and the other guy doesn't want to wait. There goes your "contender" status. Rashad Evans was the #1 contender at LHW like 3 times. That shit doesn't mean anything
