Chris Weidman has already won two battles in devastating fashion, but his ongoing war with Anderson Silva is far from over.
Ed Soares, Silva’s manager, made a guest appearance on Sherdog Radio Network’s Beatdown show, where he hinted at another potential immediate rematch between Weidman and Silva:
I mean, GSP’s definitely an option, but like we always say, who knows? At the end of the day, Dana [White] and Lorenzo [Fertitta] decide — if Anderson decides to come back. There’s a few options. It could be him. It could be who knows, a Michael Bisping?
It could be even a Chris Weidman because at the end of the day, people look at Chris Weidman’s two wins — and in a way it’s almost unfortunate for Chris — but like you said, they are controversial wins. Who knows? Maybe even a rematch if it came up would make sense, but like I said, at this point in time I still feel it’s too early to talk about that.
Weidman has yet to even lose a round to Silva, but he is still struggling to find respect these days, despite holding two wins over an all-time great within the same year.
In July, Weidman shocked the world by knocking Silva out in the second round and winning the UFC title. However, his coming-out party was ruined by skepticism over Silva’s horseplay and misguided taunting.
In a nutshell, the world refused to believe some 20-something newcomer with only a 9-0 professional record was capable of knocking off arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history. After the fight, UFC President Dana White gave the fans what they wanted and issued an immediate rematch between Weidman and Silva.
Leading up to the rematch, the MMA community became infatuated with the idea that Weidman’s win was a fluke, and a more serious and determined Silva would somehow make everything right.
During an appearance on Ring Fever, Ray Longo, Weidman’s coach, made the eerie prediction that all of the fluke talk could push Weidman to seriously hurt Silva in the rematch.
“If they motivate him by saying this was a fluke, he might kill a guy, yeah, he’ll hurt him,” said Longo.
Coincidentally enough, Weidman did hurt Silva in the rematch, but not purposely.
Weidman unleashed a technique he calls “The Devastator” to check one of Silva’s leg kicks. Longo taught Weidman the technique, which basically uses the knee to block kicks. The reasoning for the daunting nickname behind this technique was revealed to the world as Silva’s leg snapped in half as soon as it made contact with Weidman’s knee.
Upon impact, Silva immediately crashed to the canvas cradling his broken leg and screaming in agony.
After suffering such a horrific injury, it was widely believed Silva would never compete again, but Soares remains optimistic that a return is still possible after a successful surgery:
I do believe he’ll be back. We’ll just have to see when and how the recovery is coming along. …Whatever he wants to do, he’s going to be able to do it. If he wants to come back, he’s going to come back and be the Anderson Silva that he always has been. Take nothing away from Chris Weidman. He went out there and he beat Anderson twice, but like you said, they were a little bit controversial ways to win, but it is what it is. Hats off to Chris Weidman.
If Weidman is still champ and the UFC greenlights an immediate trilogy, one has to wonder: How many times does Weidman have to defeat Silva before he actually beats him?
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