Don’t count UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman‘s head coach, Ray Longo, among the contingent of fans clamoring for a trilogy fight between Weidman and Anderson “The Spider” Silva.
Speaking with MMAFighting.com’s Marc Raimondi, Longo responded to UFC President Dana White‘s proclamation that Silva would receive another chance at Weidman‘s strap with a win at UFC 183, and the esteemed trainer was none too supportive of the notion.
“I don’t want to see the fight,” Longo told MMAFighting.com. “Me personally as a trainer, I don’t want to see the fight. And the guy is getting older. At this point, you have nothing to prove. …I don’t want to see the guy get hurt. You’re putting a talented, one of the greatest of all time, up against a strong, huge, fierce fighter. It’s not like Weidman is deficient in any area.”
In two trips into the UFC’s Octagon against Weidman, Silva has, indeed, gotten hurt.
At UFC 162 in July 2013, Weidman ended Silva’s record-setting reign as champion with a swift left hook, sending the Brazilian to the canvas in a heap of unconscious muscle and bone and projecting a deafening hush throughout the MMA landscape.
It was a surreal moment for fans and critics alike. The consensus greatest of all time, the man who made professional fighters look like amateurs, just got knocked out cold by a relatively unproven wrestler from New York.
It didn’t get better for Silva from there.
In his rematch against Weidman in December of that same year, Silva was dropped in Round 1 with a powerful shot from the clinch. He absorbed some serious ground-and-pound in the aftermath of that punch, but the worst was yet to come.
In Round 2, Silva went to work, chopping at Weidman‘s legs with kicks in hopes of establishing a rhythm and throwing his opponent off his game.
Unfortunately for the Spider, Weidman and Longo trained to defend this attack, and the champ expertly checked a low kick, snapping Silva’s leg and ending the fight in the process.
The scene was gruesome. Weidman, once again, faced one of the greatest fighters of all time and emerged unscathed and victorious.
Thankfully for Longo, White has recently backed off his previous comment a touch. Speaking on a segment with Fox Sports, White said he’ll instead assess Silva’s performance after his UFC 183 main event with Nick Diaz on Saturday evening and go from there.
What do you think? Should Silva face Weidman again if he gets past Diaz? Sound off below, and we’ll discuss.
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