Morning Report: Gegard Mousasi takes aim at UFC middleweights for refusing to fight him

After exacting his revenge on Uriah Hall in November, Gegard Mousasi has one fight left on his UFC contract and it sounds like he’s tired of waiting around. Currently riding a four-fight win streak, Mousasi is the fifth-ranked middleweight and looks to be on the cusp of a title shot in muddled up 185-pound division if he can just get one more top tier win. There’s one problem though: he can’t seem to find anyone to fight.

While speaking with Fox Sports recently, Mousasi said he’s been asking the UFC for a top opponent for weeks but no one is willing to take it, or else the UFC is keeping them from him.

“I wanted to fight Anderson [Silva] and the UFC said ‘well you don’t have a big enough name’ but now he’s fighting Derek Brunson,” Mousasi said. “Luke Rockhold is injured but I see him training all the time. Chris Weidman doesn’t pick up his phone. The UFC offered him that fight a couple of times. [Robert] Whittaker wants to go on holiday for seven months. I don’t know what he’s up to. I’m looking for a fight.”

“[Weidman] says he was offered a couple of fights? Who? Everyone is booked or injured. Whittaker doesn’t want to fight until May or June, that’s what the UFC told me. Who else is there to fight? UFC offered me to him to fight.

“[Rockhold], he says he’s torn his ACL a little bit, and I’m actually afraid to take that fight because he’s still injured. I’m afraid to accept that fight and then suddenly he pulls out and I’m training for nothing. If he accepts the fight and he’s healthy, that’s a good fight for me.”

It’s an interesting circumstance for Mousasi. When Rockhold pulled out of his fight with Ronaldo Souza, many thought the UFC might book a rubber match between Mousasi and “Jacare” as a de facto title eliminator to face the winner of the Michael Bisping-Yoel Romero title fight that will happen sometime this year. But instead, Jacare accepted a fight with 14th-ranked Tim Boetsch, which left Mousasi without a ready to go dance partner other than the former middleweight champion Anderson Silva. But despite Silva’s legend status, he currently hasn’t won a fight at middleweight since 2012 and Mousasi believes he wants to pick up an easy win instead of risk losing his third fight in a row.

“They can say whatever they want. I fought [Lyoto] Machida after injury. I went to Sweden to fight [Alexander] Gustafsson but he got injured. I was willing to fight [Daniel Cormier] when Jon Jones got pulled off the card. I was willing to fight Anthony Johnson [at UFC 206]. Of course I wanted to fight Anderson but I think he favors the guys he can beat easier or he believes he can beat easier.”

“Derek Brunson’s stand up is horrible, I’m sorry. The guy is a good fighter but his stand up is just terrible. He’s an amateur fighter stand up wise. It was just a bar fight in his last fight.”

With no other options in sight, Mousasi is staying ready for any opportunity and says he’s hoping Weidman will accept a fight. If not, he’s willing to fight anybody in the division because he’s coming for that top spot.

“I’m ready to take any fight. From No. 1 to No. 15, I’m open. I’m ready to take risks if the reward is there. I’d rather fight somebody in the top five rather than somebody in the top 15, but I’ll fight anybody.

“If I fight the right fight, I’m a bad matchup for everyone. I feel I have the best stand up. Luke Rockhold’s not going to take me down. Chris Weidman’s not going to take me down. Their wrestling is great, but they have to set it up with strikes. Heavyweights cannot take me down at this moment so no middleweight is going to take me down. All I can say is I’m very confident. I’m looking to fight those guys.”

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

N/A

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TODAY IN MMA HISTORY

2009: UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman made his return to the UFC after 10 years away, losing by TKO to Mauricio Rua at UFC 93.

2013: Michael Chandler defended his Bellator lightweight title for the first time, submitting Rick Hawn with a rear-naked choke at Bellator 85. That same evening, Pat Curran won a split decision over Patricio Freire to retain his featherweight title.

2016: Dominick Cruz made his return to the octagon after over a year off ti win the UFC bantamweight championship from T.J. Dillashaw at UFC Fight Night: Boston.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Take it easy everyone and see y’all tomorrow.

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