Chris Weidman

Hofstra Pride

Chris Weidman (born June 17, 1984) is an American professional mixed martial artist.

He is signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he competes in the middleweight division.

He is a former UFC Middleweight Champion.

An accomplished amateur wrestler, Weidman was a two-time NJCAA All-American and a two-time NCAA Division I All-American during his collegiate career.

Weidman was born in Baldwin, New York, on June 17, 1984, the second of three children.

He is of German and Irish descent and was raised as a Lutheran.

He and his older brother were involved in numerous athletic activities.

Chris started wrestling at a very young age.

With his natural athleticism, he mastered the sport very quickly.

He attended Baldwin Senior High School on Long Island where he was a Nassau County and New York state wrestling champion.

A standout in college, he earned All-American wrestling honors twice at Nassau Community College before transferring to Hofstra.

He became the first junior college wrestler in history to be an NYS Collegiate Champion.

At Hofstra, he became a two-time NCAA Division I All-American, placing sixth at the 06' NCAA championships his junior year and third at the 07' NCAA's his senior year.

Weidman graduated from Hofstra University with a bachelor's degree in psychology as well as a master’s in physical education.

He was later a wrestling instructor of the university.

While attending Hofstra, Weidman met Gabriel "Monsta" Toribio, who invited Weidman to come to Matt and Nick Serra's BJJ Academy a few miles from campus in Levittown, New York to help some of the fighters with their wrestling.

Weidman also took some submission grappling classes and within three months he competed in and won The East Coast Grappler's Quest in his weight class and the Absolute Division with all 13 matches ending in submissions.

With full-time assistant coaching and graduate school at Hofstra, grappling had to be put on hold for a while.

While coaching, Weidman trained for the Olympic trials.

When his dream was not attained, Weidman had to decide if he wanted to continue training for the world teams and Olympics or give MMA a shot.

Toribio brought Weidman to Ray Longo's MMA Academy and introduced Weidman to Longo.

With his noticeable technique and skills, Weidman was encouraged to train full-time to fight.

He began his mixed martial arts career in 2008, and joined the UFC in 2011, soon amassing a 9–0 record.

After winning the ADCC East Coast Trials, Weidman qualified for and competed at the 2009 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship (with one year of formal submission grappling training) in Barcelona where he lost in a quarter-final match-up.

Weidman made his MMA professional debut representing the Serra-Longo Fight Team in February 2009 in Louis Neglia's Ring of Combat 23.

He fought as a Middleweight against Reuben Lopes, whom he submitted quickly via kimura, at 1:35 of the first round.

Two months later at Ring of Combat 24, he stopped Mike Stewart with punches in the first round.

In his third bout, Weidman won the Ring of Combat middleweight title on September 24, 2010, by defeating Uriah Hall at Ring of Combat 31 via punches in the first round.

Weidman defended the ROC Middleweight Championship on December 3, 2010, at Ring of Combat 33 with an impressive victory over Valdir Araujo via unanimous decision.

By this point Weidman was being called "one of the most highly-touted blue chip middleweight prospects ever".

Weidman was offered contracts by numerous organizations, but Weidman elected to wait until the UFC offered him a contract, which he quickly accepted.

In 2011, Longo and Weidman LAW MMA opened, where they are instructors, owners, and operators in Garden City, New York.

Weidman made his UFC debut against Alessio Sakara on March 3, 2011, at UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann, replacing an injured Rafael Natal.

Weidman, who took the fight on two weeks' notice and who was also nursing a rib injury, won a unanimous decision, scoring a decisive 30–27 on all three judges' scorecards.

Weidman faced Jesse Bongfeldt on June 11, 2011, at UFC 131, replacing an injured Court McGee.

In 2013, Weidman came to worldwide prominence by defeating Anderson Silva to win the UFC Middleweight Championship.

This ended Silva's 16-fight winning streak inside the UFC and his seven-year reign as the champion.

Weidman retained the title for two and a half years, defending it three times.

In May 2015, Weidman got a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from Renzo Gracie and Matt Serra.