It has been quite a few weeks for Sweden’s Jack Hermansson.
Drafted in as short notice replacement for Yoel Romero at last weekend’s UFC on ESPN+ 8, Hermansson earned the biggest win of his career when he defeated Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza via relatively clear-cut decision in Sunrise, Florida on Saturday. After the fight Hermansson, who improved his record to 20-4 with the win, spoke of the list of 185-pound fighters who would like to face to advance his own title interests, including Romero, Kelvin Gastelum and former UFC champ Chris Weidman — and it appears that the New Yorker is interested.
I Just heard “The Joker” Hermansson mention on @arielhelwani show he would want to fight me next. Would love that fight.
— Chris Weidman (@chrisweidman) May 1, 2019
”
Writing on Twitter, Weidman said: “I just heard ‘The Joker” Hermansson on Ariel Helwani show he would want to fight me next. Would love that fight.”
His victory last weekend has ushered the Swede up into the 5th spot in the official middleweight rankings, two places ahead of Weidman who has slipped to 7th. The ‘All-American’ has won just one of his last five, losing to Luke Rockhold, Romero, Gegard Mousasi and Souza. A sole victory against Kelvin Gastelum remains Weidman’s only win since a May 2015 win against Vitor Belfort.
Hermansson, meanwhile, is now 7-2 in the UFC and holds wins against Souza, David Branch, Thales Leites and others.
