Chris Weidman answered some important questions throughout his UFC 175 main event against former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida.
The champ showed he can take a punch, he showed he has the cardio to go five full rounds, and he showed that he can solve the riddle that is Machida‘s karate style.
And according to his striking coach, Ray Longo, he did it all with one hand.
Speaking with The Fight Network’s John Pollock, Longo said that Weidman‘s heart and character shone brighter than ever in his fight with Machida, as he took the fight to his opponent with only one good hand.
“He hurt his hand, probably he had two or three weeks from the fight,” Longo said. “He was banged up, but, dude, if anybody can do it, this kid has such belief and he’s got so many other skill sets that, you know, he kind of beat the guy with one hand. I can’t say enough about that guy, man.”
Watching the fight, one would be hard-pressed to point out Weidman‘s hand injury. While Newsday‘s Mark La Monica reported that Weidman was not hitting pads before the fight, and he “winced with pain” while throwing a left jab just four days out, the New York native threw both hands against Machida with great success, a testament to his toughness and resolve.
Because of the injury, though, we may not have seen Weidman‘s full potential yet. He just fought the best, most complete fight of his life, and there’s still room for improvement. Just as we had questions about Weidman going into the fight, we leave with one lingering query: What can a fully healthy Chris Weidman do?
Longo knows the answer to that, as he told Pollock: “A healthy Chris Weidman, nobody is going to beat.”
So far, healthy or not, Longo‘s words ring true, as Weidman has now defended his middleweight title twice: once against Anderson Silva and once against Machida.
For a fighter with banged-up knees and one hand, that’s not a shabby accomplishment.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com