The Three Most Pivotal Fights Of Chris Weidman’s Career

UFC middleweight champion Chris Wiedman had a storied rise to the top of the division, and had to overcome one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time in order to reach his goal. With such a dangerous opponent in Lyoto Machida across the cage on Saturday, ‘The All-American’ will have to be on point to keep his belt. The champion has had some real turning points in his 11-fight career, so let’s take a look at the three biggest fights of his now infamous record.

Alessio Sakara at UFC Live 3

Weidman was a 4-0 regional fighter when he got the call to sign up for the UFC and step in to fight in place of Rafael Natal against Alessio Sakara. After a display of rather sloppy striking in the opening stanza, ‘The All-American’ went back to his wrestling roots to absolutely win the last two rounds.

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Sakara was busted up, bloodied, and well beaten by the unknown underdog. The fight ended an unbeaten spree of three for ‘Legionarius’, and started a four-fight skid which saw him eventually cut from the promotion. Weidman had landed in the UFC, and upset the odds against the better striker, a trend seemed to have started.

Mark Munoz at UFC on Fuel 4

By this time, Weidman was riding high at 8-0 as a pro, recently defeating Demian Maia on very short notice, and starting to really make a name for himself in the promotion. Although, he was yet to really break through as a mainstream star. Mark Munoz was unbeaten in four, and was fresh off a brutal starching of Chris Leben.

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What transpired was the real selling point for Weidman’s title shot, as he battered Munoz and finished with a vicious counter elbow and ground strikes in the second round. Check out the KO video, in the fight that really showed Weidman at his best yet:

Anderson Silva at UFC 162

This was truly the defining moment in Weidman’s career to date, as he shattered multiple records, and stunned the MMA community worldwide. Anderson Silva was the long time champion, and reigned over the division for years with relative ease. Although he had a little trouble in his first fight with Chael Sonnen, just about everyone was betting on ‘The Spider’ to defend successfully against ‘The All-American”.

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The immediate moments after the crushing left hook from Weidman were like watching real life through water, it seemed distorted and fuzzy, but the realization soon came; Chris Weidman had defeated one of the greatest MMA practitioners ever, and the quiet kid from New York suddenly blew up. Check out the video of that epic win at UFC 162, and relive the chaos that was Weidman’s greatest achievement to date. All videos courtesy of UFC.com

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