UFC fighters relish their New York state of mind

Chris Weidman leaned back in his chair a bit, stretching out in a pose of someone who’s finally home.

The former UFC middleweight champion from Long Island, N.Y., was a leading face who campaigned along with the company’s regulation affairs official, Marc Ratner, and its president, Dana White, to convince New York lawmakers in Albany to overturn legislation that banned mixed martial arts in the state.

Finally, in April, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill to allow MMA, and, after regulations were updated, the UFC quickly scheduled a debut card for Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

On Wednesday, the UFC announced it’ll return to New York on Feb. 11 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, and an MSG official was quick to express interest in any other dates the company wants to send its way.

“It’s been a long wait from the first days to where we are now,” Weidman said. “My thoughts have been what a difference this is, amazing how it’s changed. To be in this historic arena, Madison Square Garden, this sport has become as big as anything else.”

After safety concerns over the then-lightly regulated sport spawned the ban, a culinary union that battled UFC former owner Lorenzo Fertitta’s non-union Station Casinos in Las Vegas lobbied hard in New York to keep the ban in place.

At Wednesday’s public workouts, Conor McGregor, who’ll headline UFC 205 against lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez by seeking to become the first fighter to simultaneously wear two belts, sparred on the hardwood of the New York Knicks’ floor and then banked in a free throw on his first attempt.

“It’s a surreal feeling -- doesn’t feel real,” Weidman said. “Fight week, I’m driving to the hotel. My room is across the street from the gym I train in. It hasn’t felt like it’s been fight week until I was here. It’s so calming. And this is just the beginning. I know everyone’s focused on this first fight, but I’m sure events will be rolling in like crazy and if I win, I feel I’ll be fighting [in New York] for the belt for sure.”

UFC 205’s card is so deep that second-ranked middleweight Weidman’s fight against Cuba’s fourth-ranked Yoel Romero (11-1) is slotted behind three other title fights: McGregor-Alvarez, the first welterweight title defense of Tyron Woodley versus Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson and women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk defending her belt against Polish countrywoman Karolina Kowalkiewicz.

Weidman will take special pride in defeating Romero. While Weidman is a vocal opponent of performance-enhancing substance use in the UFC, Romero is coming off a suspension for using a banned growth hormone.

Not only that, a title shot at middleweight champion Michael Bisping could be in play.

“I think I’m going to win this fight, for sure. I want to dominate this guy,” said Weidman. “I was a champion for a long time. Yoel Romero, if I beat him, I think the writing on the wall is there, and if I win here, there’s no question my next fight will be for the belt.”

Also on the card is former women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate.

“Madison Square Garden is such a historic, huge venue,” Tate said. “To be represented on this card is something I’ve dreamed of for a long time. This is something I wasn’t sure how long it was going to take. It seemed like it was taking forever. Crawling by, like I’d be retired before it was finally approved.

“I’ve fought on the biggest fight cards [headlining UFC 200 in July], I’ve fought in historical venues and now I’m at the most historic venue in sports – it all makes sense.”

New Jersey’s former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar said he’s “ecstatic, walking around the city like I do all the time,” as he seeks to regain traction in the featherweight division after losing to former longtime champion Jose Aldo of Brazil in July.

Second-ranked Edgar (19-5-1) meets No. 7 Jeremy Stephens (25-12) in the final non-pay-per-view bout shown on Fox Sports 1.