There are cases for some instant MMA rematches. Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson put on a hell of a war in their first fight, a rematch would have been just fine. When Frankie Edgar beat BJ Penn the first time, we had to see it again. When Chris Weidman beat Anderson Silva, we couldn't believe what we'd just seen. These fights needed to be played back because they were just too close, too strange, or too big.
It's hard to say that Luke Rockhold vs. Chris Weidman 2 is one of those fights. The first fight between them was good, but it was decisive. Rockhold fought Chris Weidman and he beat him, and it wasn't even weird. Rockhold was just better. Still, a rematch of that bout seems to be first and foremost on the newly minted champion's mind, and he said as much in an interview with Fox Sports:
"We've talked and from what I see there's a couple of fights on the table -- there's Yoel Romero and there's Chris Weidman," Rockhold told FOX Sports on Wednesday. "I think Chris Weidman, he's been the longtime reigning champion, I know he's begging for a shot. He's been harassing Dana (White) from what I understand since the day after the fight and I'm not opposed to giving him what he wants if he really likes it.
"Yoel Romero, he had his opportunity to go show up and earn a title shot and I think he underperformed. I want a guy the fans are going to demand and want. Unfortunately he couldn't fight the second and the third round. This is about selling a fight and making money and it's business. As much as I want to go out and fight whoever, this is a long training camp, it's a championship training camp and I want to do it for the right fight, the right paycheck and the right time."
To hear Rockhold tell it, he's already got his motivation working for the Weidman rematch as well. While there's no question that he won the first bout, the champ feels like he wasn't dominant enough, and could put together a better performance in the rematch:
"I've got a lot to prove and I'm out there to reach my potential and I'm far from that. I'm out there to go put on a flawless performance. I'm not happy with my performance against Chris so if we're going to do it again, I'm going to go out there looking to execute and be perfect next time."
Anybody else out there interested in seeing if Rockhold can do it better the second time around, or are there better fights for him right now?