Silva to Weidman: "Wait & work" for your shot

Weidman's anger is somewhat justified, as the 28-year-old ultimately gave up his pursuit of "The Spider" after UFC officials promised him Silva wouldn't be accepting anymore fights for the rest of the year. That, of course, wound up to be untrue. And now that he's back in the game, the champ has a simple, unapologetic message for the young challenger.

"Everything has it's time," Silva replied in a conference call with Brazilian media, translated by Guilherme Cruz of Tatame.

 "He'll have his opportunity to fight for the belt. Maybe I fight next before he gets the shot, I lose and he fights someone else. We don't know. I can fight Bonnar, lose and say: ‘you know what, I don't want it anymore'. Or maybe I win and say ‘I don't want this anymore'. Or maybe drop to welterweight or move up to heavyweight. Anything can happen. Every UFC fighter will have their chance. You have to work and wait for your opportunity."

Seeing as Silva's next opponent is projected to be UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, unfortunately for Weidman, that opportunity may been farther away he'd like to admit.