I love the suggestions that Weidman was just the guy who showed up at the right time...
Chris Weidman was one of the highest touted prospects I've ever seen. Then he did it.
And we got guys who've been watching MMA for a week, telling me that guy got lucky.
Bellator tried to sign him before UFC.
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"“Chris Weidman. I thought we had that deal done. I put a lot of time into that, and we had Chris come out to the Huerta-Alvarez show [Bellator 33] as our guest and we got him a hotel room. It was a big recruiting visit. We took him backstage, spoke with Bjorn and shook his hand. Chris was really excited walking out of that meeting about fighting for us. I was told by his managers that the deal was done.”
“I think Chris took the contract to a lawyer who was also a relative, and I think the relative had some questions about the nature of the contract. I think Chris felt like we had misled him. I read an interview where we had said that. It took me by surprise, but I think what had happened was, the guy that was working with him was trying to get other fighters into Bellator and had spoken to Bjorn about possibly working for the company. I think he felt like whether or not he was going to be able to do business with us outside of Chris Weidman, he felt like that was going to be dependent on if he could get Chris to sign with us. I think he might’ve misled Chris on a few things to get Chris to sign a 36-page document. I can tell you from my end, I don’t know anything that Bellator did to mislead him. I wonder where the disconnect was.”
“I thought that was a done deal. Bjorn was like, “How good do you think he can be?” And I say, “If we sign him, he’s going to be our middleweight champion.” When Chris won the title from Anderson Silva, I was like, “Well, I was wrong. He’s not our champion, he’s the UFC middleweight champion.”"
"Top Prospects in MMA" 2010
With major league promotions like the UFC, World Extreme Cagefighting, Strikeforce and Dream all running a seemingly endless number of events
www.sherdog.com
Chris Weidman
Record: 2-0
Team: Team Serra-Longo
Division: Middleweight
Sherdog's Prospect Watch in 2009
Chris Weidman aims to introduce himself to the world this weekend in Barcelona, Spain, where he will compete in the Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling World Championships as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt.
www.sherdog.com
"Chris Weidman aims to introduce himself to the world this weekend in Barcelona, Spain, where he will compete in the Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling World Championships as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt.
Once he fulfills his commitment to the ADCC world championships, Weidman will again switch gears to his fledgling MMA career. Married one year ago, he and his wife are expecting their first child in March. There can be no better motivation."
He went from NCAA wrestling to grappling Andre Guvalo as purple belt in ADCC, in 2 years, and the bout blew up.
Weidman was showing hints of greatness in MMA before he had a single bout.
This is a guest post written by my Scouting Report colleague, smoogy. Give the man your undivided attention as he is a special contributor to the World MMA
bloodyelbow.com
World MMA Middleweight Scouting Report: #2 – Chris Weidman
Potential: If you still haven't got the message yet, Chris Weidman is one of the most highly-touted blue chip middleweight prospects ever. With his combination of size, athleticism, and skill, the sky is the limit. At just 4-0 as a pro, it would be premature for him to jump directly to fighting the top-ranked 185 pound fighters, so getting more fights will be the priority in the interim. His options reportedly include entry into the potential Bellator Season 4 middleweight tournament and a spot on the cast of The Ultimate Fighter 13. The TUF gig would be the best opportunity to show the MMA world his skills, and his upbeat personality is perfect for the reality TV format.
His first bout vs Hall was billed as a match-up between super prospects.
I don't know how anyone looks at his career and tells me this guy sucks. His record is littered with killers and tougher fights than he should have taken.
When I read that, I know you don't know history, or fighting.