Since December of 2015, Weidman has only been able to win one of his five Octagon appearances. “The All American” suffered the first defeat of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career at UFC 194. He was finished in the fourth round by Luke Rockhold via TKO, losing the 185-pound title. That marked the beginning of a three-fight losing streak, in which Weidman would be finished in each.
Following his loss to Rockhold, Weidman was knocked out by Yoel Romero at UFC 205 in November of 2016. The following April, current Bellator MMA middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi finished Weidman in the second round. That summer, Weidman returned to defeat Kelvin Gastelum with a third-round submission win in New York.
At UFC 230 this past weekend (Sat. November 3, 2018), Weidman was hoping to make a push for a middleweight title opportunity. However, he was knocked out in the final round of his co-main event meeting with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. This was an upsetting defeat for Weidman, who likely would’ve won the contest had the fight gone the distance.
Pretty Big Setback
Weidman’s coach, Ray Longo, spoke to the “Anik & Florian” podcast recently and discussed the defeat. Longo called it a “pretty big setback” (via MMA Fighting):
“It was a tough one to swallow,” Longo said. “I felt really confident after talking to him in between the second and the third round that we were on our way to a victory. those things that blindside you like that are tough.
“But first and foremost, hats off to Jacare. Class act. He dug down deep. He wasn’t gonna get that decision and he found a way to win. . . Man, you zig when you should’ve zagged and that’s what happens.
“MMA is an unforgiving sport. I tell you, this is a pretty big setback, because with a win over Jacare he was looking good. He already had beat Gastelum and I think that’s always gonna be a great matchup for Chris.
“Whittaker would have been the tougher fight but I actually think Gastelum is gonna beat Whittaker so I think he was looking good.”
What do you make of Longo’s comments regarding Weidman’s loss to Jacare?
