Issue 133

October 2015

UFC champion Chris Weidman hopes to shake off his ‘All American’ tag for a title more befitting his dominance before targeting the 205lb belt and leaving an unsurpassable legacy.

Go for the kill. That’s Chris Weidman’s attitude when it comes to mixed martial arts. The unbeaten UFC middleweight champion doesn’t climb into the Octagon for the sport. He does it for the money, for the glory, and most of all to unequivocally prove one thing: he’s the best ever. With just a handful of legitimate contenders remaining at 185lb, he’s already got designs on the light heavyweight belt “perhaps sooner than you think” and he’s not given up on an era-defining matchup with Jon ‘Bones’ Jones either.

Designed for greatness

Standing underneath a hot shower deep within the bowels of the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Chris Weidman smiles as he rubs the reddening skin on his right knee, which minutes earlier had snapped the left tibia and fibula of the man once believed to be MMA’s greatest of all time.

While Anderson Silva was being checked over at a local ER, Weidman stood triumphant and cleaned himself up and the rest of the world continued to reel in horror at the way in which he’d retained his championship belt. 

The two former rivals likely had more in common at this moment than ever before. Both were at the end of their MMA journeys. For Anderson, this was a curtain call on his illustrious championship reign. Weidman had achieved everything he’d set out to in MMA.

“That moment goes down in my mind as the biggest moment of my life,” Weidman tells FO. “I’d wanted to win the UFC belt for such a long time, ever since I got into the sport. And I’d wanted to be the man to defeat Anderson Silva at the same time. Those were the two dreams I’d had and believed I could achieve. 

“I went through all the uncertainty and doubts along the way to get there and finally make it happen. So that feeling of success at that moment was unparalleled to anything else I’ve achieved.”

And yet, standing alone in the shower block while his family and team rejoiced in the next room, Weidman admits the moment hit him hard. “I wouldn’t say I was depressed, of course not, but I had to pick myself up, for sure. It was just a feeling of being at the end. I’d achieved what I set out to achieve. And until that very moment, I had no other goals.”

But once he got on top of the pile, he didn’t want to get down. Soon enough the New Jersey native had his eyes fixed on a new prize and a lasting legacy of his own.

He adds: “I knew I wanted to stay on top. Otherwise, what was the original goal even for? But I did need to find another reason to do this, and that reason was to provide for my family and try and make as much money as possible by becoming the greatest fighter of all time. And that’s the path I’m on now. I want to completely dominate the sport.”

He explains: “First I’ve got to completely shut out this division. I’ve got to completely separate myself from all of these other guys at 185lb. I have to leave everybody in absolutely no doubt that I’m the best guy ever at middleweight. Then I move up for a couple of super-fights and then I’m out. That’s it, see you later, Chris Weidman (laughs).”

The Brazilian killer

Anderson’s abolition left Weidman with an appetite for Brazilian fighting icons. Two more former champions, Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort, have both gone the way of ‘The Spider’ as Weidman’s dominance of the division has shown no sign of abating, earning him this year the moniker ‘The Brazilian Killer’.

But he insists it all started with that double over Anderson. And from the outset, it was always going to be a double victory, too.

“People think I had to change my goals after the first win over Anderson. Absolutely, but it was only after the second fight because I was designed to defeat Anderson Silva twice – not only once. When I beat him at UFC 162 I knew the goal and the dream wasn’t over. My mission was only 50% complete. 

“He was knocked out but as soon as he woke up I said to him, ‘We have to have an immediate rematch.’ Before that first fight, I was saying I’m going to beat him and then beat him again. So from the start, defeating Anderson was always a two-part plan. After I beat him the second time, that’s when I really had to sit down and reassess my goals. That’s when it was over, he was gone, and I had to look for new targets.”

For years Weidman was “designed” to beat Anderson in East Coast gyms, so how does he feel about the possibility of up-and-coming fighters worldwide being designed to beat him? “I don’t know what the hell they would be able to do to beat me,” Weidman says with a shake of his head. “I couldn’t even help them out with that one.”

It may sound like a cavalier attitude, perhaps similar even to one shared by Anderson and his camp ahead of the night he rolled up at the MGM to face Weidman. Yet the champion insists his résumé speaks far louder than that of the man considered by many to be the greatest fighter we’ve ever seen. The current champ says he’s defeating a much higher caliber of opponent.

“Look at the guys I’ve beaten already, and who I’m beating right now. I beat Anderson Silva twice, Vitor Belfort, and Lyoto Machida. Anderson was beating Chris Leben, Stephan Bonnar, all these guys. The best guys he beat were, like, Dan Henderson and Chael Sonnen. The guys I’m beating are total athletes in every single fight. 

“I’m fighting the best guys that are available with each defense of my belt. If you look at my résumé and his résumé then you could argue I’ve achieved much more than him already. The skill and the caliber of the guys I’m fighting every time are much higher than the guys Anderson fought during his time as champion. It’s a whole new level now.”

Rockhold knows

Next up for Weidman is likely the most athletic man he’s ever faced. American Kickboxing Academy standout Luke Rockhold is a tall, rangy striker with quick hands and a slick ground game. A natural athlete in every sense of the word.

The Californian with the movie star looks secured his shot at the champion by disposing of Machida in two rounds in April, nine months after ‘The Dragon’ gave Weidman his toughest test to date through five hard-fought stanzas. Yet, unsurprisingly, the protégé of veteran coach Ray Longo isn’t too concerned about his next appointment.

“He’s definitely well-rounded and he’s tall and lanky. He’s not very dangerous on his feet, he’s more of a pressure fighter. He’s relentless. He’s going to be there and he’s tough,” Weidman says. “On the ground, he has some tricks. But I’m just going to walk right through him. Literally, I’m going to walk right through him. I’m going to walk into the center of the cage and punch a hole through his head. Seriously. I’m too strong, too tough and everything he’s good at, I’m way more advanced.”

He adds: “On the ground, if you wanted to set up a grappling match between me and Luke, then guess what? I promise you, I’m submitting that guy five or six times in one five-minute round. And you know what, if he was truly honest with himself, he’d agree with me. 

“He might not say that out loud, but he knows. He’s trained with people who have trained with me. He’s trained with my main training partners. We have a lot of shared friends, you know, so he knows how good I am. He may talk the big talk but in his own mind he already knows he’s in trouble.”

All killer, no filler

“I don’t just go out into the Octagon and get lucky,” Weidman continues. “It starts in a room, and believe me, messages have been spread. And he has heard. And he can say whatever he wants between now and the fight, but this dude knows what he’s in for. 

“Like I said, my goal is to completely dominate every guy at this weight and separate myself from the rest. Leave no doubt. So he’s just the first guy after Vitor.”

Rockhold will be only the second non-Brazilian Weidman has faced since 2011 – he brutally KO’d Mark Munoz in two rounds in July 2012 – and with aspirations for the light heavyweight division also bubbling it’s likely that not one, but two American Kickboxing Academy leading lights may feel Weidman’s sting in the coming months, with Daniel Cormier currently holding onto the 205lb belt.

Yet any talk of a name change from ‘The Brazilian Killer’ to ‘The AKA Killer’ sees Weidman bite back. “Don’t you get it? Don’t all of you guys get it yet? I’m just ‘The Killer’. You don’t need to put ‘Brazilian’ or ‘AKA’ before it. When all is said and done they’ll just call me The Killer,” he snorts with a chuckle.

Yet the sentiment is no joke. Weidman’s career has been nothing short of spectacular so far. Of his 13 straight victories, he’s been to a decision just four times. He’s got genuine one-punch knockout power and his ground game is rooted in Division I All-American wrestling and a Renzo Gracie jiu-jitsu black belt.

Weidman wants challengers. He wants to beat the very best of his generation convincingly in order to secure a legacy that’s untouchable in terms of Octagon success. And a big part of that plan involves another New Yorker with similarly strong ties to the pound-for-pound lists. While the fighter in question may have a question mark over his career right now, to Weidman he’s the one opponent after Anderson that really excites him.

Legacy hunting

UFC president Dana White revealed earlier in the summer how Weidman and Jon Jones had been considered to headline at the promotion’s Big Apple bow at Madison Square Garden for a champion vs. champion super-fight. But with ‘Bones’ on a law-enforced sabbatical, and NYC off the agenda for at least another year, Weidman’s been left to pick up the pieces.

“I have asked to fight Jon Jones at late notice before, but they wouldn’t let me do it,” Weidman reveals. “He’s the guy I really want to fight. He’s another New York guy but he’s also someone everybody knows is really, really good. And those are the guys I really want to beat. I want to beat people that others believe I can’t beat. That’s what truly excites and motivates me. 

“So I want to beat Jon Jones more than anybody out there, if I’m honest. I just hope he gets back into the sport, wins a couple of fights, and then is waiting on top for me to come along and end it for him.” In the meantime, Weidman’s date with the rest of the roster at 205lb is closing in fast.

Asked about the move up a weight division, Weidman says: “I don’t know for sure. I just want to smoke a couple more people at 185lb before it gets to the point where nobody here wants to fight me, then I’ll move up for other challenges. I see two or three more fighters in this weight class that MMA fans may think have a chance at beating me, so after I’ve beat those guys then I don’t quite see much else coming up that I’m concerned with. 

“So while I’m not having too much trouble making the weight, I want my own competition. I want to chase things people haven’t done before. So moving up and demolishing guys at 205lb is definitely going to happen. I don’t exactly know when, but it’s probably sooner than you think.”

With just Rockhold, then most likely ‘Jacare’ Souza, and possibly one more at 185lb left to conquer, it’s perhaps not surprising to hear Weidman talk about moving up from a division he’s called his own since he ended Anderson’s reign. The term super-fight is used far too often, especially in MMA, but seeing the current middleweight champ up at light heavy, challenging for the belt, will be a legit Octagon super-fight.

And whether that happens next summer, or even at the beginning of 2017, one thing’s for sure, ‘The Killer’ is at large and nobody weighing 185lb and upwards is safe while he’s legacy hunting in the UFC.

205 pounds at UFC 200? Don’t rule anything out

With UFC 200 confirmed as the summer blockbuster pay-per-view destined for Las Vegas during UFC International Fight Week 2016 next July, could that be the event where we see Chris Weidman up at light heavyweight for the first time?

“That may be a little too soon, but who knows,” he says. “For the right fight, I’ll do almost anything. Especially for the right price... You never know.”

Samba slayer: 83%

Chris Weidman has faced and defeated Brazilians in five of his last six UFC appearances – Damien Maia, Anderson Silva (twice), Lyoto Machida, and Vitor Belfort – that’s 83% of his recent victims. No wonder he’s been dubbed ‘The Brazilian Killer.’

Part of the sport: Getting over injury woes

Weidman has fought just once in each of the past two years as injuries robbed fans of the planet’s leading 185lb’er. But the champ admits it’s something he’s come to terms with and he refuses to allow inactivity to bring him down. 

“It’s frustrating but injuries are a part of sport. Champions generally only fight twice a year anyway, but the last two years I’ve had to work around injuries too. That said, I’m a positive-thinking person so I’ve never let them get me down too much. S**t happens, you get injured and plans change. But ultimately everything happens for a reason and you have to move on. 

“I’d like to fight six times a year. But as a champion, no more than two is really happening, with all the extra promotions required for title fights. I’d really like to get three in, but I don’t look at it as frustrating because it’s out of my control. If I get injured then I just have to recover right and come back from it.”