Former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra has been retired for over three years now but remains active in the fight game through coaching at the Serra-Longo gym in Long Island.
His star pupil? UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman, who scored his second victory over the legendary Anderson Silva in a roughly six-month time frame at UFC 168 this past Saturday.
In an interview with Examiner, “The Terror” explained that while he felt bad for Silva suffering such a serious leg break, sometimes that’s just the luck of the draw.
See, here’s the thing; of course you’d like to have a nice knockout or a nice submission, or a ref stoppage or something like that, but the fight game is like chess, and he [Weidman] made the right move. He made the right move. If Chris doesn’t lift that leg up and check it — like Ray Longo showed him how to — he’s eating that kick. And here’s the thing about a kick like that; the harder you throw it, the worse for wear you are … So, it is unfortunate, but it was the right move by Chris. I’m upset that Anderson got hurt, and that’s unfortunate. But at the same time, our guy did the right thing.
Weidman, now ranked the No. 5 pound-for-pound fighter in the world in the UFC’s official rankings, boasts a perfect 11-0 record (including eight finishes) as a professional mixed martial artist.
However, “The All-American” still has naysayers who believe both of his victories over Silva involved more luck than skill.
In their first encounter at UFC 162 in July, Weidman became the first competitor in 39 fights to knock “The Spider” out, but he received limited credit for the big title win since Silva was excessively taunting and showboating before getting dropped.
In the rematch, Weidman convincingly won the first round prior to Silva shattering his left tibia and fibula on the champ’s knee as he checked a leg kick.
Meanwhile, Silva’s future remains up in the air, as it will take somewhere between six to nine months before the Brazilian is able to train rigorously again, per MMA Fighting.
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com