Chris Weidman faces a monumental task ahead of him at UFC 162 when he faces UFC middleweight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva. That obstacle just became a bit harder, as Weidman will be without one of his top coaches.
According to MMA Fighting, Weidman‘s coach and former welterweight champion Matt Serra will be unable to corner his prized student.
Mike Chiappetta reportedly spoke to Ray Longo (Weidman‘s other main coach) and confirmed the reasoning behind Serra’s absence.
In April, it was discovered that Serra had thoracic outlet syndrome, which caused his rib and collarbone to compress a vein, restrict blood flow and cause clots. He required surgery to remove his first rib, the one closest to his collarbone. Unfortunately since then, he had another setback.
The health scare combined with the recent birth of his third child forced Serra’s hand in staying back for UFC 162.
“I’ll miss Matt, he kind of rounds me out as a coach,” Longo said. “It was a hard decision for him to have to make, but sometimes family has to come first.”
A family-first mindset seemed to be on Weidman‘s mind, as the middleweight title challenger looked to replace Serra with his own father for UFC 162.
I’m sure Weidman‘s father will provide great inspiration for the challenger, but he’ll undoubtedly miss the coaching advice from Serra.
Weidman has been a part of team Serra-Longo since day one in MMA and will look to match his mentor in pulling off one of the greatest upsets in MMA history against Silva at UFC 162.
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