Where does Chris Weidman go from here?
Chris Weidman came into UFC Boston in bullish form. The former UFC middleweight champion famously knocked out Anderson Silva twice. The second was an incredibly gory leg break. However, those days appear to be in the past. Like Luke Rockhold before him, Weidman has found out that 205lbers hit hard.
He came up against Dominick Reyes in the main event. On the face of it, this was a terrible match-up for Weidman. He had suffered four knockouts in his last five fights, so what the UFC was thinking, we don’t know. Reyes burst onto the scene as one of the most exciting light-heavyweights in the division. Then he scraped past Volkan Oezdemir but lost momentum.
However, his first-round finish of Weidman could be enough to get him a title shot against Jon Jones. This was short, sweet and incredibly brutal. Check out the finish below.
HOLYSH*T!! Dominick Reyes ends Chris Weidman in the first round#UFCBoston https://t.co/AQ3MyK0m8v
— MMA India (@MMAIndiaShow) October 19, 2019
Brutal
There’s not that much to say about this one. Weidman actually started reasonably well. However, you could say that he was beating Yoel Romero until he got knocked into oblivion. Once again, that’s what happened here. The New Yorker took Reyes down and looked to maintain position. That’s when the end came for him.
Reyes managed to get back to his feet but Weidman held onto him. The younger man connected with a vicious hook and sent the former challenger sprawling. That was all she wrote. He followed up with some devastating ground-and-pound that put Weidman out cold. It was grim to watch.
Oh my, Chris Weidman 😳 #UFCBostonhttps://t.co/Gg3Da9R3Ov
— Nitrogen Sports (@NitrogenSports) October 19, 2019
Done and Dusted
Weidman was still interviewed despite the KO. Clearly the UFC thought that he was going to retire. However, that didn’t happen. Instead, he that he still has it in him to compete at the highest level. Now he has five KO losses in his last six fights. Now his light-heavyweight journey is over before it even properly began. He said:
“I will be back better. God is good, even in this adversity.”
You’d have to hope that he really considers his future and what’s best for his young family. Nobody likes to see a fighter walk away, but you don’t want to see them take unnecessary damage either. His chin is so bad that he’ll get TKOed if you slam the door too hard.
“This is the game we play. I’ll be back better.”@ChrisWeidman is down, but not out #UFCBoston pic.twitter.com/UdRPOyp8s8
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 19, 2019
Ready?
Obviously, Reyes was feeling a lot more positive after the fight. In a division with a deficit of challengers, he just edged his way to the front. Now he wants to fight champion Jon Jones for the light-heavyweight belt. Could he be the man to unseat the most successful champion in UFC history?
“I was out there having fun, feeling loose, Reyes said. “It was everything I imagined it to be. I was so honored to fight Chris. He’s such a tremendous competitor. Hey, Jon, I don’t want any party favors, man. I want that belt,” he said. “Let’s go.”
He could get that shot. Reyes has the sort of ferocious power that makes him a problem for anybody. Do you think that he can beat Jones?
