UFC 187: Chris Weidman discusses Vitor Belfort in an exclusive interview

Chris Weidman defends his middleweight championship against Vitor Belfort on May 23 at UFC 187 and told us all about the big fight.

In an exclusive interview, the New Yorker discussed his veteran opponent's challenge, his own reputation for halting Brazilian legends - plus check out the champ's views on Jon Jones' struggles here.

Chris, tensions are building ahead of your third title defence against Belfort in Las Vegas...

Weidman said: This is about making a statement for me because Vitor is a very tough guy. Don’t forget he’s on a three-fight winning streak, all via knockout, against three top fighters. Vitor is an explosive striker with fast hands who has knocked people out for years and now he’s ending fights with kicks, too.

He came closer than anybody else to beating Jon Jones so this is a dangerous fight for me.

You'll always be remembered for twice defeating the legendary Anderson Silva but will this fight advance your reputation?

Being the guy that ended the run of the greatest fighter ever will always be attached to my name. Anderson Silva will always be known as one of the best ever so I’ll always be known as the guy who beat him.

Weidman said: Being the guy that ended the run of the greatest fighter ever will always be attached to my name. Anderson will always be known as one of the best ever so I’ll always be known as the guy who beat him.

But that’s just the beginning of my career. The rest of my career will be even brighter than that. I’ve beaten Anderson twice, then Lyoto Machida and now Belfort. I’ll be proud to have taken down three all-time legends in a row.

You're currently ranked as No 3 pound-for-pound fighter in the official UFC rankings - should you be No 1?

Weidman said: Rankings don’t mean much to me but I’m working towards being the pound-for-pound best in everyone’s mind. I want to be the world’s greatest fighter but these things just happen if you keep winning in a dominating way, which I’ve been doing. Then those rankings will take care of themselves.

Check out Sky Bet's UFC odds including Weidman v Belfort and Conor McGregor v Jose Aldo

Finally, you've always been known as a submission artist but now you've earned a jiu-jitsu black belt to back that up...

Weidman said: People might have recognised me as a black belt for a long time but I’m happy I was made to wait. It’s part of becoming a complete fighter.

It means different things to different fighters. I have a Gracie background and a Matt Serra background so I’ve always used jiu-jitsu but it takes a while to reach black belt level. I’ve submitted some of the top black belts in the world but they’ve only just given me my own.