Heard from the lads today this was a go. Excited for it, Weidman is a beast of a grappler, happy he got the shot. Thoughts?
Haven't seen anything to convince me his wrestling is better than Sonnen's. KO against Munoz looked sweet but doesn't mean much. He struggled in a kickboxing match with Maia for example Not that fussed about this fight to be honest, or anyone for Silva at MW now I think about it.
Never really seen Sonnen wrestle, but do think that Weidman is very solid on the ground. We'll see...
Personally, I'm not convinced but they have to throw someone in. Everyone is looking for the potential " Sonnen" moment where he dominated Silva for 5 and still lost. I dont personally think he deserves it but then that'll make me a hypocrite as I'm going to enjoy the Sonnen/Bones match . Weidman kept saying Bisping always got beat by the top 10 so he (Bisping) should never be considered...but then you look at Weidman's record and its not that great either. (my opinion anyhow) Will see what happens as anything can truly happen and Sonnen showed that in the their first fight.
I've never watched him grapple. I watched Weidman the other day, even as a purple he is playing a top class game and pushing very established blacks in nogi. I believe he might have the edge on the ground, from a jitz perspective, plus the wrestling. Striking though... well I love Anderson's timing and angles.. Good fight I think.
I don't put much stock in grappling performance as a seperate thing. How many well established wrestlers have we seen come to mma hyped by their college record and then fail to adapt to an mma game? Weidman's a good grappler, but he's nothing new. There are others in the ufc with better wrestling credentials than him and he hasn't shown any more mma wrestling skill than Sonnen or Okami. Or maybe even Marquardt. Plus if you listen to mma forums then Silva fought Sonnen with a broken rib and pulled guard every shot. Won't happen with Weidman. I respect him for saying he's a purple belt though. Increasing number of bjj blackbelts in the ufc that are worthy of some skepticism
I'm looking at it as allround grappling rather than just wrestling. As a grappler I think he is better than Sonnen, the record could allude to that with 3 out of 9 fights (all wins) by Sub vs Sonnen 3 wins by sub in 40 fights. But then again thats an early call and Weidman could never win by sub again. Wrestling is one (possibly the most important) aspect of mma, but bjj/sub grappling is an important one too and whilst people lump it together it is a different thing. I like Sonnen too fwiw.
I agree its important and Weidman is a better bjj grappler than Sonnen for sure. I'm only harping on with the comparisons between the two because I don't think Weidman is the same calibre of mma wrestler so I don't see him taking Silva down, and without that his grappling doesn't mean anything. He has nothing for Silva standing so the question mark for the fight is whether he can take Andy down and nothing so far suggests he can. Other than his college record of course which is pretty sweet.
Yep, it could be messy if it stays up. I reckon Weidman has the KO power... if he can catch Anderson with something... anyways I am looking forward to the match and think it has potential, hope I am right even from a spectators perspective.
Still a nothing fight really. He really got the shot because Bisping got KOd by Vitor, which in turn a Vitor rematch is not that workable/dont feel he is ready. And Belcher got out worked by Okami (again) but Okami got handed so badly it also dont make sense that he should get a rematch. Weidman...he knocked out Munoz and a few other guys he submitted that is (be honest) that highly ranked? Records dont mean anything much now a days as many now know its the "who you beat not how many". Also i dont think it matters whether or not he can outgrapple Sonnen...what matters right now is how his grappling goes up against Silva. Anyone can get KOd...and Silva seems to be giving them out a bit more recently. Silva by demolition I'm afraid. Unless Weidman has been holding back some super secret technique or Silva gets lazy again.
Silva on form is a legend. So no doubt he will be an incredible challenge. But I think not only is Weidman a good match, he's an obvious choice in the division and his record, whilst short is good. I've really enjoyed Munoz on his way up and felt he would be a natural choice for a shot too, the bout with Chris changed the pecking order for me. It might be early, there are a couple of other average but respected folk in the division he could earn more creadibility on but at the same time if they want a silva fight he is a valid candidate.
Bisping definately deserves it. He's just got to win 2 more (again) after Vitor smashed him in. Whether or not he was roided up he passed clean and thats all that matters. Rashad gave Bisping his last loss at 205lb and has been vocal about Bisping's certain style that maybe a good match for Silva. Bisping claims that he is a no-gi blackbelt (never graded). Jake Shields gives him big props on his subs...and thats big coming from Shields' calibur. Back on TUF 3 Tito Ortiz even said Bisping gave him trouble way back then considering he was mainly MT. I remember watching Bisping on local shows and he was handily beating guys bigger than he was. So theres always high hopes for a 185lb Bisping.... Just a shame he always gets real far then loses. Hopefully he will be able to beat Belcher. (very torn on this) and even if he doesnt I doubt the company will sack him due to his immense popularity.
Hendo.. that was a little embarassing. But yeah. I like Bisping a lot too. I'd be happy for him to have a go, I think that would have happened too if it wasn't for Belfort. I reckon he will be up soon, probably in the next 2-3 fights if things go well.
