UFC 151: Middleweight Chris Weidman Offered to Fight LHW Champion Jon Jones

You've surely heard the news by now that Jon Jones declined a fight with Chael Sonnen, and the UFC 151 card was forced to be cancelled.

First Lyoto Machida was offered the fight, and he said no. Then Sonnen was offered the fight, he said yes, and Jones said no.

Now it appears there is another fighter who threw his name in the hat, and that is the man who many consider to be the No. 1 contender in the middleweight division, Chris Weidman.

Weidman is coming off a second-round knockout of Mark Munoz, and has been gunning for a shot at Anderson Silva's middleweight title, a shot that Silva does not feel Weidman deserves.

When word came down that Henderson was injured, Weidman and his team inquired about them getting the fight.

Via Mark La Monica of Newsday:

"[UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva was like 'Wow, he wants to take the fight,'" Weidman said. Weidman went on to say that Silva was "surprised but appreciative" that Weidman would move up to take the fight.

"We said we're all in," Weidman said. "We just have to wait for [Ray] Longo to land, but we're all in. Just put us in the mix. Who knows if it ever got back to Jon Jones though. But UFC knew."

Tim McTiernan is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. For the latest news on everything MMA, follow him on Twitter @TimMcTiernan.