Chris Weidman: 5 Defining Moments

Chris Weidman traversed the sport in a matter of a few short years. He graduated from blue-chip prospect to top contender to world champion, ending the historic reign of one of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s all-time greats. Weidman now faces an uncertain future and one wrought with potential pitfalls in a deepening middleweight division. The 32-year-old Serra-Longo Fight Team rep started his professional career 13-0 but finds himself on a two-fight losing streak that cost him the UFC middleweight championship and resulted in more questions than answers. Weidman will be back in the cage on April 8, when he tries to rebound from a devastating knockout loss to Yoel Romero at the expense of former Strikeforce, Dream and Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder Gegard Mousasi in the UFC 210 co-main event at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York, the venue resting roughly 300 miles from his hometown.

In a brief but eventful career brimming with defining moments, here are five that stand out:

1. Legend Killer

After six years, eight months and 22 days, Anderson Silva finally relinquished his hold on the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight throne. Weidman knocked out a clowning Silva with a left hook and follow-up ground strikes in the UFC 162 headliner on July 6, 2013 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, becoming the sixth middleweight champion in the promotion’s 20-plus-year history. The unbeaten Weidman brought the match to a shocking and decisive close 78 seconds into Round 2. “I felt I was destined for this, but it still felt a little far-fetched,” he said. “I imagined it a billion times, but it still feels surreal. Ray Longo brought in guys in my camp to play with me and do things to mess with my head. It pisses me off when someone tries to do that to me. I knew little by little I was going to creep up on him and then eventually get him.” The loss was Silva’s first legitimate defeat since December 2004 and snapped a string of 17 consecutive victories. The Brazilian had never before been stopped by strikes. Weidman took down Silva in the first round, softened him with ground-and-pound and aggressively fished for two leg locks, first a kneebar and then a heel hook. Once “The Spider” returned to his feet, he started the uncomfortable process of toying with his challenger in a scene that had grown familiar to mixed martial arts followers. However, his taunting caught up to him early in the second round, as Weidman floored and finished him at the feet of referee Herb Dean (online betting).

2. Bloodletting

Roughly a year before he dethroned Silva and ended the Brazilian’s remarkable stay atop the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division, Weidman was on a rung-by-rung climb on the 185-pound ladder. Munoz, a two-time NCAA All-American wrestler who had won a national championship at Oklahoma State University in 2001, wandered into his path in the UFC on Fuel TV 4 main event at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. It was a bloodbath. Weidman wrecked “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” for a little more than six minutes, sweeping him off his feet with a takedown before assaulting him with ground-and-pound. Munoz did not land a single significant strike during the match, could not complete a takedown and failed to attempt a submission. It was a shutout on all fronts for Weidman. Munoz did not survive the second round. Weidman slipped one of his right hands and countered with a devastating downward elbow to the face that sent him crashing to the canvas. Bloodied and dazed, Munoz had neither the faculties nor the wherewithal to defend against the follow-up punches that finished the job and made Weidman the No. 1 contender for the middleweight crown.

3. Short-Notice Stripes

Weidman had to earn his keep at 185 pounds. He kept his perfect professional record intact and transitioned from prospect to contender at UFC on Fox 2, as he took a unanimous decision from 2007 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships gold medalist Demian Maia on Jan. 28, 2012 at the United Center in Chicago. All three cageside judges scored it 29-28 for Weidman, who accepted the bout on just 11 days’ notice and endured an exaggerated weight cut in meeting the middleweight limit. Weidman controlled much of the matchup with his striking, as he countered effectively and peppered Maia with kicks to the legs and punches to the body. He also scored with takedowns in all three rounds and attacked the decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt on the ground, threatening with chokes when Maia attempted to move into more advantageous positions. Fatigue set in on both men in the third round, as they traded slow, looping punches with one another. Weidman, a two-time NCAA All-American wrestler at Hofstra University, opened a cut near Maia’s right eye with a series of knees from the clinch and battled through exhaustion to pick up what was at the time the most significant victory of his career.

4. Unseated

Weidman did not rule the middleweight division for long. Luke Rockhold stopped the “All-American” with fourth-round punches in the UFC 194 co-main event on Dec. 12, 2015 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. A battered a bloodied Weidman succumbed to abuse 3:12 into Round 4. After plenty of give and take in the first two rounds, Rockhold turned the fight his way in the third, where he countered the Baldwin, New York, native’s ill-conceived wheel kick with a takedown, moved to the back, set his hooks and eventually advanced to full mount. From there, Rockhold unleashed some savage ground-and-pound with sharp elbows and concussive punches. Dean showed surprising restraint in allowing Weidman to continue on. When the round ended, he staggered back to his corner a shell of his full-strength self. The American Kickboxing Academy’s Rockhold picked up where he left off in the fourth, as he delivered another takedown, moved to an advantageous position and mopped up what was left with punches.

5. Hype Meets Substance

The buzz around Weidman began long before he arrived in the UFC. Less than three months after he started formal jiu-jitsu training, he won his first Grappler’s Quest tournament -- his weight class and the absolute division -- and submitted all 13 of his opponents in doing so. Soon after, Weidman qualified for the prestigious Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships and pushed seven-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Andre Galvao to the limit in a memorable quarterfinal match in 2009. Though he lost on points, he emerged as one of the tournament’s breakout stars. Weidman returned to the MMA scene a little more than a year later and fought fellow undefeated prospect Uriah Hall for the Ring of Combat middleweight championship on Sept. 24, 2010. It took him 3:06 to cast aside Hall, doing the honors with a sweeping left hook and follow-up punches on the ground. With that, Weidman had begun pairing substance with the hype.