Jack Hermansson (20-5) was supposed to take on former UFC champ Chris Weidman (14-5) in UFC Oklahoma City on Saturday, May 2 at Chesapeake Energy Arena. “The UFC has been forced to postpone their upcoming events, and with that also my fight with Chris Weidman.” says the Swede today, following yesterday’s official announcement from the UFC:
With Jack stuck in Norway and unable to travel to the USA due to prohibitions, Yoel Romero’s manager Malki Kawa said he was offered Weidman, which would have gone down at UFC 250. However Romero was unable to compete due to injury. It would have been a rematch of the UFC 205 bout from 4 years ago.
The “All American” also Tweets that Edmen Shahbazyan was offered before Romero. Both fighters are already in the USA, so would be available for a fight, unlike the Joker.
1st Hermanssson
2nd Edmem
3rd Romero— Chris Weidman (@chrisweidman) April 9, 2020
The Swede had an amazing 2019, submitting David Branch in the Nordic submission of the year, earned a 5-round victory over Ronaldo Souza on short notice, and climbing up the ranks to the #6 UFC contender.
The Frontline Academy fighter was tabbed to headline the UFC’s first trip to Denmark at UFC Denmark in October. The “Joker” was explosive early in the main event versus Jared Cannonier (13-4), but a the American defended take-downs and eventually landed a big uppercut that changed the course of the bout leaving the wrestler to end the 2019 campaign with two wins and one loss.
If the bout goes down as planned in the future, it will be Weidman’s drop back to middleweight after his one fight in UFC’s light heavyweight division where he was KO’d in 103 seconds by title challenger Dominick Reyes. The former champ lost his last five of six bouts.