Numbers be damned, Chris Weidman is approaching legendary status in the UFC’s middleweight division.
The 30-year-old Serra-Longo product faces Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort on Saturday, May 23 at UFC 187 in Las Vegas, where he’ll attempt to defend his middleweight title for the third time.
Before there were talks of UFC title defenses for the Long Island native, however, there was an obsession with one man: UFC legend Anderson “The Spider” Silva.
Silva was not only the king in Weidman‘s weight class, he was widely regarded as the greatest fighter to ever compete in the sport. He was, as they say, the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time).
Weidman knew Silva had something special—and he was determined to take it from him.
“Every time I trained for a fight, I didn’t train to beat the guy I was fighting,” Weidman wrote for the Players’ Tribune. “I trained to beat Anderson Silva.”
After nine straight wins, Weidman got his chance against The Spider at UFC 162, famously knocking out the longtime king and ushering in a new era in the UFC’s middleweight division. For Weidman, this was a defining win, a grand payoff for all the years of studying, training and grinding toward Silva’s title.
Weidman has since added two additional title defenses to his legacy—one more over Silva and one over Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida—and he’ll look to extend his run against Belfort on Saturday evening in what may prove to be his toughest test to date.
Should Weidman do what he does inside the cage and snag another title defense on Saturday evening, it will be time to have a little talk about the greatest middleweight in history.
And this talk will feel a lot like a debate.
Silva’s run as the UFC middleweight champion was magical. He was hands down the most dominant fighter I’ve ever watched go to work, toying, dancing and playing with grown men before sending them into another dimension with his pinpoint strikes.
His 10 consecutive title defenses are the most in the promotion’s history. His 14 finishes? Also tops.
He had the kind of run at 185 pounds that felt like it would never face a legitimate challenge. He was the division’s Cy Young, and everybody else was playing an impossible game of catch-up.
But if Weidman gets past Belfort at UFC 187, we’ll need to have a discussion. A one-two-three run over Silva, Machida and Belfort would look a lot like the beginning stages of Jon “Bones” Jones’ run at light heavyweight when he assumed the throne in March 2011.
Jones demolished legends and former champs, and he was widely considered the best light heavyweight of all time even before he matched Tito Ortiz’s then-record of five consecutive title defenses.
Weidman can do the same.
The quantity of wins and accolades is not there for him just yet, and he may never match Silva fight-for-fight. Consider this: Silva had already notched four UFC title defenses by the time Weidman made his pro MMA debut.
Weidman may never be able to close this gap in terms of sheer quantity, but man, oh man, is he making up for it with quality.
Like Jones, Weidman seized control of his division and rattled off victories over some of the best fighters the sport has ever seen.
He needed just 12-and-a-half minutes to slay the G.O.A.T. twice. No big deal, but none of Silva’s 15 other UFC opponents could do it even once. Some of them even had a second chance at him and still couldn’t seal the deal.
If sending The Spider packing wasn’t dramatic enough, Weidman then bested Machida at his own game, out-striking the karate expert over five rounds in a Fight of the Night performance at UFC 175. Again, no big deal, but the lifelong wrestler and grappling specialist just stood toe-to-toe with an expert striker and won.
Compared to Silva’s resume, well, there’s no comparison.
This is like having two Lamborghinis and a Ferrari in your garage and comparing it to a garage with four Mustangs, a Camaro and five souped-up Civics.
Sure, Silva has more pink slips, but put any of his 10 cars against Weidman‘s Ferrari, and it’ll end poorly for the former champ.
Making matters worse for The Spider’s case, Weidman‘s garage has some bays just begging to be filled by more supercars.
Luke Rockhold and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza await after Belfort, and either fighter would stand among or above the best on Silva’s hit list. Silva’s garage is locked. Weidman is building an addition.
On Saturday, Weidman has the opportunity to begin this construction by adding another victory over a former UFC champ to his record. Beating Belfort is arguably the best win of Silva’s title reign, so this fight can give us a better understanding of how Weidman and Silva match up against common opponents as well.
Don’t expect Weidman to front-kick Belfort‘s face into the second row like Silva did, but don’t be shocked if the American is able to thoroughly dismantle the aging Phenom any way he sees fit.
If he does, he’ll take one more leap toward snatching Silva’s claim as the greatest middleweight in the sport’s history.
The game of catch-up Weidman signed up for when he entered the middleweight division as a pro fighter in 2009 was supposed to be impossible, but so was beating Silva in the first place.
It seems Weidman has a different perspective on what’s possible, and he’s blazing a trail to show us things his way. Pretty soon, we’ll have to open our eyes and accept him for what he’s becoming: the greatest middleweight of all time.
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