MMA Origins: Chris Weidman

Stepping Up

As 2012 dawned it was expected that despite his hype, the UFC would continue to bring Weidman along slowly. After all, he’d only had one fight with a full training camp behind him. That would quickly change.

The UFC’s second show on Fox was booked for January 28^th and was anchored by a pair of pivotal Middleweight fights – Chael Sonnen vs. Mark Munoz, and Demian Maia vs. Michael Bisping. Eleven days out, Munoz withdrew with a knee injury, Bisping stepped up to replace him against Sonnen and Maia was left without an opponent. The UFC called Weidman and again he accepted, except he had a slight problem.

32lbs of a problem, in fact.

Somehow, some way, Weidman cut 32lbs to make the 185lbs limit and then went in and although the fight wasn’t the best, he outworked the BJJ black belt to take a unanimous decision. Weidman had arrived in the top ten of the UFC almost as quickly as he’d managed to smash his way into the upper echelon of the grappling world.

When Munoz returned to action that summer he was matched with Weidman and – again, on SkyBet at least – he was the betting favourite. After all, he’d beaten Maia previously too and he was more proven at the top level than Weidman, with wins over Chris Leben and CB Dollaway on his ledger. And it was Weidman’s first headliner too while Munoz had main evented or co-main evented UFC cards four times before.

Weidman thoroughly outclassed him, outwrestling the former Division I champion before knocking him out with a standing elbow early in the second round. And once again I made some money betting on him.

Less than two years into his UFC career and Weidman was calling for a title shot. And while he initially called out Anderson Silva, the Middleweight champion, he also had another title in mind.

When UFC 151’s main event went down the toilet thanks to an injury to Dan Henderson, Weidman apparently offered to take on Light-Heavyweight champion Jon Jones on late notice, but the offer was never taken seriously. Weidman said that if Jones wouldn’t take Chael Sonnen on short notice, there was no way he’d ever have considered fighting him.

That’s some serious confidence.

Weidman’s 2012 wasn’t supposed to be over with the Munoz fight. He was actually signed to fight Tim Boetsch at UFC 155 in December 2012 but withdrew due to a shoulder injury. When he came back, after initially baulking at the fight, Silva – entering into his seventh year as UFC champion – accepted a fight with him. Personally, it felt to me like Silva deciding to fight Weidman before he gained that much experience.