As difficult as it may be for some to admit, Chris Weidman is the UFC middleweight champion. He beat Anderson Silva twice. Back-to-back.
Silva, the consensus greatest fighter of all time. The man who was deemed unbeatable for the better part of six years by some of the sport’s most respected pundits. The indestructible dynamo that slaughtered some of the toughest men to ever step foot in the Octagon—including the likes of Rich Franklin, Dan Henderson, Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen.
Weidman beat him. Twice.
You can fabricate every excuse in the book, but it doesn’t change the fact that there’s a new king at 185 lbs, and from the looks of it, he’s holding onto that belt for a while.
We know that Belfort is next in Weidman’s crosshairs, but can “The Phenom” do what Silva couldn’t? Or is Weidman destined to reign over the middleweight kingdom for years on end like his predecessor?
Let’s take a look at how the UFC’s “All-American” champ matches up to the rest of the contenders at middleweight.