UFC
Dana White refuses to commit to Luke Rockhold or Jacare Souza as next challenger for UFC Champ Chris Weidman
May 25, 2015 - 11:55:24 AM Dana White refuses to commit to Luke Rockhold or Jacare Souza as next challenger for UFC Champ Chris Weidman

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Dana White is being entirely non-committal on the topic of the next UFC Middleweight Title challenger, sending mixed messages on Saturday night after UFC 187 about who will be next for Chris Weidman.

During the post-fight show on Fox Sports 1, White said that Luke Rockhold pulled him aside and expressed why he should be next, and it seemed White was leaning towards that choice, but wavered at the same time with Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza in the mix.

"It took me so long to get here because Luke Rockhold had me in the hallway," White said (transcribed by MMAFighting.com). "Luke Rockhold said, 'Do not give this fight to Jacare. Jacare isn't going to try to come in and do what I'm going to do. You saw what I did to [Lyoto] Machida. That's exactly what I'm going to do to Weidman. Me and Weidman will go after each other. It'll be a stand-up fight. We'll do this, we'll do that. Let's do this thing in Las Vegas.'

"He was all over me back here. We'll see what happens... He is [the No. 1 contender]. He is. [Ronaldo Souza's] manager texted me after the fight and said, 'He's ready to go.' So, I don't know. We'll see what happens here."

However, while it seemed to be leaning Rockhold's way, White went further in the other direction in a separate interview with Megan Olivi for UFC.com.

"So Jacare's manager hit me right after the fight and said, 'We're ready for Chris Weidman,' so it'll probably be Jacare vs. Weidman next," White said. "I don't know. Anything can happen. We'll see how this thing plays out. Luke Rockhold is obviously the No. 1 contender. We'll see what happens."

Penick's Analysis: So much hedging and double-speak from White on this one. Rockhold is the deserving No. 1 contender. It should clearly be Weidman vs. Rockhold next, even though Jacare hasn't lost in the UFC yet. Rockhold's run since his loss to Belfort has been phenomenal, and he's beaten better fighters than Jacare has beaten. That's not a slight to Jacare, and it's not his fault the UFC hasn't gotten him in the cage with a higher level of competition, but it's still the truth. Rockhold's win over Lyoto Machida last month, especially with how dominant that performance was, is a trump card that should give him the next title shot. Now we just need to wait to find out if the UFC ultimately feels the same way.