Chris Weidman Thinks We Still Haven’t Seen His True Style In The Octagon
UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman is obviously on a roll. The undefeated “All-American” earned ESPN’s “Fighter of the Year” award for his two technical knockout finishes over legendary former champion Anderson Silva.
But aside from the hoopla and awards, Weidman recently admitted that the second bout didn’t end in the best way. Silva gruesomely broke his leg after Weidman checked one of his low kick in the second round. The champ spoke up to MMAjunkie.com to say that it wasn’t how he wanted “The Spider” to go out:
“It’s not the way I’d have wanted the fight to end, for sure. It’s not the most perfect ending I imagined. To see Anderson go out like that, I don’t like to see that – in a lot of pain, leg snapped in two. I don’t want to do that to anybody, so I do feel bad about that. But I do know that I was the better fighter and I was going to finish the fight, regardless. I would rather have finished the fight in that first round when I dropped him or finished him at some point later on in the fight than break his leg in half. But that was the way it ended it up, and there was nothing I could do about it.”
Weidman may or may not have finished the bout regardless of the injury. He was dominating Silva with ground and pound throughout most of the first round. It appears that Weidman simply just has “The Spider’s” number. Where Silva’s previous foes were almost defeated by his mystique before even stepping into the cage, Weidman carries the confidence of knowing how to beat the all-time great.
But he still isn’t getting all of the credit he deserves; something that he admitted will probably always follow him. His critics will say that he beat a clowning Silva who didn’t take the bout seriously the first time around, then note that the longtime champ was unfortunately injured in the second one. It is disappointing that Silva didn’t get a full chance in their last fight, but Weidman remains a true and deserving champion.
Either way, Weidman is due all the accolades that are heaped upon him. The young titleholder won’t reach his third year of training in MMA until this March, and injuries have sapped some of that time from him. Couple that with the bizarre and abrupt endings of his two fights against Silva, and Weidman believes that we still haven’t seen his true style:
“I started in 2009 – that’s when I started training. I’ve had two surgeries where I was out for at least a year, another I was out three or four months, another that had me out three or four months … I’ve only actually been training for two or two and a half years, which is crazy. I’m very new, but it feels like forever.
“I have a lot to learn and a lot of things I do in practice that I haven’t been comfortable enough to do in the Octagon yet. I haven’t shown my true self or true style yet. I’m excited to be able to do that over time. Experience is the main thing I’m working on.”
If that is indeed the case, UFC middleweights will face an extremely tough challenge for years to come. Weidman will next face surging No. 1 contender Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort at a yet-to-be-named UFC event sometime in May or July (but not June, apparently).
Weidman has already been critical of Belfort’s TRT use, calling the therapy unfair. The fight is supposedly going to go down in Las Vegas, where Belfort has been thought to be unable to receive a therapeutic use exemption for TRT.
That denial, however, came from former NAC executive Keith Kizer, who interestingly stepped down yesterday.
If “The All-American” can get past Belfort, he’ll face a strong list of worthy contenders like Lyoto Machida and “Jacare” Souza. Will the Weidman Era be a dominant one, or will one of these top-flight middleweights will put an end to the young champion’s hype?
Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea for USA TODAY Sports
