Okay what the hell happened to Weidman?

[Senzo Tanaka]

I thought Chris looked OK for a 39 year old but they did give him a winnable fight. That same Chris against anyone ranked is going to get destroyed. He still looked slow and sloppy to me and way too hittable. He loves to run backwards with his chin straight up and his hands down when he's in trouble.

 

[BROWNPRIDE]

Prayers and vitamins

 

[Shaddows]

Ignoring the eyepokes, Chris actually looked good. I thought Bruno was going to knock him out fairly quickly but Weidman was getting the better of exchanges and he looked like the Weidman of old.
Did something happen? Did Chris hit a 'second prime' or has Bruno Silva regressed?

I think there's a lot of mental challenges that people still did not grasp on how an important part it plays for MMA.
The most dominant champions, they have that "Aura of invincibility".
That allows them to try things that someone who lost their share would be weary to throw.

Once they take such bad beating, it leaves them more tentative, they trust less about their own tools.

You gave a great example in Junior.
Another example is Renan Barao.

They were legit fighters, but once they lost, you can see it affected their mental game and they've never recovered.

 

[GrantB13]

Didn't get KOed vs Tavares either. A wee step down in comp helped him out. Don't forget who the people he got finished by are.

Classic UFC keeping certain guys at the top way longer than they should be. The kind of situation where you can get KOd 5 times and still be talked about like you're still in the mix.

 

[TheBulge]

It's the same old Weidman. He just got Bruno shook from all the eyepokes. The guy was scared to pull the trigger and afraid of any exchange thinking he'd get blinded again and again, which also opened him up to TD's/control from Weidman.

Bruno became flincherino. How can you fight effectively as a guy who relies on his striking offense, when the second you try to do that you get poked in the eyes?

Weidman did nothing impressive other than avoiding DQ.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Bruno Silva came into the Octagon having lost 4 of his last 5 fights. Most likely the UFC will let him get another shot considering how badly he got fouled, but I predict Bruno is out of the UFC in 2025.

So Chris fought a losing streak, aging guy with one foot out the door - and he fouled him pretty egregiously multiple times.

I think Chris showed good fight IQ and took some good shots, his orbital might be busted. Nothing about that performance makes me think he's going to fair well in his next fight. This was a good softball to throw him and he eeked by with a bunch of fouls.

Personally, I dont think he should be given another Chance. Weidman is Washed AF and he was literally Blowing Bruno the fuck out.

That's gotta be it. fouled or not. That fight ending foul happened in the third, Bruno was probably expected to KO Chris in 1.

 

[BEATDOWNS]

Classic UFC keeping certain guys at the top way longer than they should be. The kind of situation where you can get KOd 5 times and still be talked about like you're still in the mix.

Not in this case imo The Chris was too damn stubborn to take a tune up fight for the longest time. Once he finally did he got a win against Akhemedov. He was very evenly matched with Bruno both 1-4 in last 5.

 

[Phisher]

Didn't get KOed vs Tavares either. A wee step down in comp helped him out. Don't forget who the people he got finished by are.

Weidman and Garbrandt are the two best examples of how destructive the UFC model is to big name fighters who need tune-ups while the promotion insists on putting them in marquee fights against top contenders.

 

[BEATDOWNS]

Weidman started throwing pokes pretty egregiously after getting lit up in the first. My guess is that Bruno was a little tentative to commit to exchanges and advances because of it.
Look at Shields vs GSP. GSP got hit with a nasty eye poke pretty early and couldn't see well after. Shields' striking and performance looked better as a result.

I heard K1 threw the bank at him but he turned it down.

 

[Sean_wongster_wongmastter]

Ignoring the eyepokes, Chris actually looked good. I thought Bruno was going to knock him out fairly quickly but Weidman was getting the better of exchanges and he looked like the Weidman of old.
Did something happen? Did Chris hit a 'second prime' or has Bruno Silva regressed?

Chris hasn't really looked bad except for Tavares.

He looked good against Romero, until that knee KOed him, which would KO anyone.
He looked good against Moose, until he played that hands-down knee game.
He looked good against Souza, until he got caught.

205 is too big for him and KOed by Reyes.
Looked good against Omari, and got a decision.
Freak leg break against Hall.

Looked bad against Tavares.

He's really only looked bad in one fight, which is his return fight.

 

[Sean_wongster_wongmastter]

Weidman and Garbrandt are the two best examples of how destructive the UFC model is to big name fighters who need tune-ups while the promotion insists on putting them in marquee fights against top contenders.

Weidman was winning against all the people that finished him. I mean... if Weidman fought Romero again, I'd bet on him, that freak knee is just too hard to consistently win by.

Beating Souza too until caught, beating moose until the knee hand game.

He's looked good even against the higher level competition. Tavares was the worst he ever looked.

 

[Sean_wongster_wongmastter]

Bruno Silva has always been Mid, I wouldn't say he's regressed. He's never impressed me much.

Never saw him outside the UFC though. I did pick him to KO wiedman though, I'll admit that.

I don't know where the narrative that Chris doesn't have a chin anymore came from.

Dude has one of the strongest chins at 185, still has a pretty damn strong chin. All his KO and TKO losses were freak power shots that would put anyone out.

He wasn't even out against Gegard, just his pretending cost him.

 

[markg171]

The Weidman downfall is overrated I think, he is 3-4 in his last 7 fights... he is not Tony where he is 0-7. Chris is still winning fights and even one of the losses was not even a fight.. he broke his leg in 10 seconds, there was no "fight".

I'm not saying he is champion material, he is clearly not, his best days are behind him, but I think how bad he looks is being way over blown most of the time, its hyperbole. He has always been slow and a bit stiff.. even when he was undefeated he was quite slow to be fair. He is older now and too inactive, but he ain't Tony, he still wins fights

Weidman's still largely competitive and winning fights here and there unlike Tony because he actually has good technique and IQ behind what he does (usually). He can afford to have slown down a bit more when there's still skill behind what he's trying to do.

He also recognizes he's 39 nowadays, is coming off all these injuries, and so can't fight as physically as he used to. He's probably never pulling off something like that nasty standing guillotine choke he hit back in the day and knows it.

Tony meanwhile always had bad fundamentals and still does, and is still trying to do all the flashy shit he used to. Of course he's losing all the time.

 

[NicholasJBasile]

Ignoring the eyepokes, Chris actually looked good. I thought Bruno was going to knock him out fairly quickly but Weidman was getting the better of exchanges and he looked like the Weidman of old.
Did something happen? Did Chris hit a 'second prime' or has Bruno Silva regressed?

I thought he looked good too; would've liked to see him wrestle more, but his chin held up. I expected Silva to win as well.

 

[markg171]

I thought Chris looked OK for a 39 year old but they did give him a winnable fight. That same Chris against anyone ranked is going to get destroyed. He still looked slow and sloppy to me and way too hittable. He loves to run backwards with his chin straight up and his hands down when he's in trouble.

Nah, give him the Craig vs Borralho winner.

 

[Sean_wongster_wongmastter]

Weidman's still largely competitive and winning fights here and there unlike Tony because he actually has good technique and IQ behind what he does (usually). He can afford to have slown down a bit more when there's still skill behind what he's trying to do.

He also recognizes he's 39 nowadays, is coming off all these injuries, and so can't fight as physically as he used to. He's probably never pulling off something like that nasty standing guillotine choke he hit back in the day and knows it.

Tony meanwhile always had bad fundamentals and still does, and is still trying to do all the flashy shit he used to. Of course he's losing all the time.

Tony is also schzio, I don't know how he's cleared to fight.
Like can someone that is psychologically borderline insane be allowed to fight?

 

[Skarsgard]

I heard K1 threw the bank at him but he turned it down.

View attachment 1037718

Jesus. I forgot this punch.

 

[Cooliox]

Weidman looked good because he wasn't fighting a Championship level fighter for the first time in a long while

 

[EnthusiastCultivator]

Chris’ downfall is not that bad. He was winning in most of his losses too, just a suspect chin and poor fight IQ and obviously that horrendous injury.

 

[santiago]

Easier to look good when you eye poke a dude about 5, 6 times. He did look better, but his career isn't going to last very much longer. All those TKOs and KOs he's suffered makes him much more susceptible to suffering another KTFO soon, not that I wish it on the dude.