Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight champion, Chris Weidman, will look to right his ship when he moves up to Light Heavyweight to face Dominick Reyes in the main event of UFC on ESPN 6 this Friday night (Oct. 18, 2019) in Boston, Mass.
Before then, let’s take a look back at the night Chris’s 185-pound reign began. Back in July 2013, Weidman — who was 9-0, 5-0 UFC at the time — found himself locked inside the cage at UFC 162 against then-Middleweight king, Anderson Silva, who was considered to be best fighter on the planet at that time.
And with good reason, as “The Spider” was riding a 17-fight win streak, including 10 straight title defenses.
But all of that didn’t deter Weidman, who took it to Silva from the jump, looking to prove that the legend wouldn’t rattle him and take him out of his game. But as the opening round went on, Silva started to get comfortable and then the showboating began, as he would back himself up against the wall, beg Chris to come to him, put his hands down, and then smile when Weidman would connect.
Is normal.
To his credit, Chris didn’t bite, as he stayed calm and stuck to his gameplan. For his efforts, he even got a kiss on the cheek from Silva, who then proceeded to egg him on even more from his corner.
Once round two began, it was more of the same, as Silva continued to showboat, hopping around the cage, pretending to be hurt whenever Chris landed a shot. A minute into the second frame, however, Chris landed a soft left hook on Silva’s chin, to which the Brazilian responded by pretending to be rocked.
Chris, though, wasn’t having it, as he followed it up with three shots that whiffed, though the follow up fourth punch landed clean on the money and dropped the champ like a sack of potatoes. From there, “All American” pounced on him to deliver five more shots to put an end to the longest reign at 185 pounds.
Since then, Weidman has gone 4-4 in the division, prompting him to seek a new lease on his combat life at 205 pounds. His first challenge won’t be a walk in the park, as Reyes has proven to be one of the legit contenders for Jon Jones’ title. And if he can get through Chris, it could be what he needs to punch his ticket to the big dance.
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