Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Middleweights

3. Chris Weidman

This placement may have seemed disappointing when Weidman was 13-0. Back then, he had a close win over a Demian Maia in his absolute prime and a spectacular stoppage of Mark Munoz on his way up to the UFC middleweight championship, along with two shocking victories over the seemingly invincible Anderson Silva and two excellent title defenses against Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort. Of course, things went downhill for Weidman soon after. He lost his belt to Luke Rockhold in one of the most vicious beatings ever, then receiving another brutal stoppage loss against Yoel Romero before being knocked out by Gegard Mousasi. He rebounded with a submission win over Kelvin Gastelum, only to be stopped by Ronaldo Souza and then by Dominick Reyes in a failed move to light heavyweight.

After a decision victory over Omari Ahkmedov, a horrific leg injury suffered against Uriah Hall put the New York native’s career in jeopardy, leaving him on the sideline ever since. However, his later losses should not obscure what was an awesome career as a whole. Weidman had perhaps the best overall grappling in the middleweight division for a while and paired it with dangerous boxing, including the left hook that altered MMA history against “The Spider.”

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