Chris Weidman, the "All American" middleweight champion of the UFC is expecting to knock out Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida at UFC 175, but will settle for a submission victory if his opponent won't engage.
Weidman exploded on the mixed martial arts map with two shocking victories over Anderson "The Spider" Silva, arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time, and is now moving on to the "headliner" stage of his young career. At 29 years old with 11 fights under his belt, he was the B-side of both Silva bouts. Now he'll be looked at as the main attraction, tasked not only with beating a high-end fighter, but turning the match into a crowd pleaser.
Weidman indicated he's gunning for a knockout, but noted Machida's "frustrating style" might make that tough. "I will look to beat him standing up," Weidman told Breitbart Sports. "If can't take him out on the feet, I will take him to the ground and submit him there."
Of course the specter of snapping Silva's leg still follows Weidman-not only did he conquer a legend, he potentially ended his career. Weidman said he never intended to inflict such a nasty injury on Silva, but he wasn't surprised it happened. "My first fight with Anderson Silva when I knocked him out, the one thing he had success with is leg kicks," Weidman said.
"So I prepared for them in the second fight. This involved a lot of leg checking. I didn't expect to break his leg doing it. I expected him to stop kicking me. I expected to make it painful for him so that he would stop."
Weidman told Breitbart Sports that his trainer Ray Longo had broken someone's leg in similar fashion in training, and he'd forced training sessions short in the past because of that tactic. "If someone checks your kicks," he explained, "it sucks. It hurts."
Expect more of the same if Machida tries to kick him like Silva did, and also expect Weidman to try and strike the Dragon early and often.
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