• Serra-Longo Fight Team

Chris Weidman

All-American

From: Baldwin, New York, United States
Born: Jun 17, 1984
Height: 188cm
Weight: 84kg

Chris Weidman is an American professional mixed martial artist who is currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). In 2013, he was ranked as the #1 middleweight fighter in the world by MMAFighting.com and Sherdog.

The Early Days

Weidman was born in Baldwin, New York, on June 17, 1984. Chris’s father, Charles Weidman, is of German descent, while his mother, Karen (nee Keegan), is of Irish ancestry. Chris has two brothers; one older and one younger. He graduated from Hofstra University with a degree in Psychology. Chris began wrestling at the age of four under the guidance of his father and went on to compete in high school and college. He was a two-time NCAA Division I All-American wrestler at Hofstra. Chris is also a jiu-jitsu black belt under Renzo Gracie and Matt Serra.

Weidman got introduced to MMA when he was invited to Matt and Nick Serra’s BJJ Academy to help some of the fighters with improving their wrestling skills. After taking some grappling classes, he entered the East Coast Grappler’s Quest competition, where he won all 13 of his matches via submission.

Weidman’s MMA Career

Weidman made his professional MMA debut in 2009 at the Ring of Combat 23, where he won his first fight via kimura in the first round. After winning his second MMA fight, Weidman went on to defeat future fellow UFC Middleweight Uriah Hall for the Ring of Combat middleweight title. After another win, Weidman started getting recognized by a dozen of promotions; however, he waited for the UFC to offer him a contract, which they did.

Weidman’s UFC Career

Weidman was signed by the UFC in 2011. On short two-week notice, Weidman was fighting against Alessio Sakara on March 3, 2011, at UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann, who he defeated via unanimous decision. Chris then went on to win his next four fights in the UFC, including victories over Mark Munoz and Demian Maia.

After being one year out of the competition, Weidman was set to face Anderson Silva, who was on a 16-win fight streak. However, many prominent fighters such as Georges St-Pierre were predicting that Weidman might cause an upset and defeat the long-standing champion.

Weidman defeated Anderson Silva at UC 162 (who was ranked as the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world at the time) via knockout in the second round to become the UFC Middleweight Champion. Even though the knockout was nothing special since Silva was taunting and mocking Weidman, who managed to catch him off guard, hit him on the chin, and drop him, the knockout was declared “Knockout of the Year” for 2013.

Three Title Defenses in the UFC

The two were set for an immediate rematch on December 28, 2013, at UFC 168. The first round of the fight was a close one; Weidman managed to drop Silva; however, Silva pulled guard and retaliated with elbows. However, the second round left everyone shocked. While Silva was landing most of his kicks in the second round, one of them was checked by Weidman, which caused Silva’s left fibula and tibia to snap on contact. Weidman even said he practiced blocking low kicks with his knee; however, he never expected Silva’s shin to break.

Weidman went on to fight Lyoto Machida, who he defeated via unanimous decision at UFC 175. Another fighter on the chopping block was Vitor Belfort, who was supposed to fight Weidman three times already; however, the fights were canceled multiple times due to Weidman sustaining a few injuries during training. Weidman successfully defended his title by gaining top position and winning the fight via TKO.

Weidman’s Title Loss Against Luke Rockhold

In his next fourth title defense against Luke Rockhold on December 12, 2015, at UFC 194, Weidman got his first career defeat and lost his title. Of his next four fights, Chris lost three of them and won one. He lost against Gegard Mousasi, Yoel Romero, and Jacare Souza, who were all elite-level fighters in their own right.

In 2019, Weidman decided to move up to Light Heavyweight due to having trouble with cutting weight; however, Weidman went back to Middleweight shortly after losing a fight against Dominick Reyes. Weidman went on to win his next fight against Omari Akhmedov before fighting a rematch with Uriah Hall at UFC 261.

In some twisted turn of events, the same way Weidman broke Silvas’s left fibula and tibia, Hall broke Weidman’s right fibula and tibia. Weidman recovered from the injury, but it is very unlikely he will ever return to the octagon again.

Fun Fact: Weidman’s sister is married to UFC fighter Stephen Thompson‘s brother.

This fighter profile was last checked and updated on: July 19, 2022