Silva vs. Weidman: New Champion Would Take Out The Spider in Possible Rematch

Chris Weidman took down Anderson Silva once, and if given the chance, he would defeat the former UFC middleweight champion again.

The 29-year-old had the night of his life on Saturday at UFC 162 when he took on Silva, who had been 16-0 with the UFC and had defended his belt 10 consecutive times. Many, however, thought that if anyone was going to be able to beat The Spider, it was going to be Weidman.

As it turned out, Weidman accomplished what no other fighter to step into the Octagon before him had done: He took the title from Silva. Weidman clocked Silva in the jaw and eventually got him on the ground, where he pummeled The Spider until the referee pulled him off. It was quite an impressive showing from the challenger.

The victory for the now-champion Weidman was his 10th career win with the UFC, and he’s still yet to be defeated. What makes him so dangerous is that he’s an outstanding wrestler with quite a few grappling moves in his arsenal. He’s just as capable of winning via a knockout, too, as he did against Silva on Saturday.

Here’s what UFC president Dana White told Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times about the way Silva approached Weidman and what happened:

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He was messing with Weidman’s head, and if he did it and knocked him out, he’d be a genius. He decided the way he wanted to fight…He got clipped. Tonight, it caught up to him.

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It would be interesting to see if Silva would taunt Weidman in a potential rematch. Whether there will actually even be a rematch remains to be seen. White told Pugmire that he wants to see the two fighters square off once more, but Silva didn’t seem very enthusiastic about the idea after the loss.

Silva told reporters, including Pugmire, that he’s going to take some time to go home and then will decide what’s next. Pugmire notes that Silva expressed disinterest in a rematch against Weidman. The former champion did recently sign a 10-fight deal with the UFC, so there is still a chance that Silva-Weidman 2 happens.

White said before the fight that if Silva were to lose, he’d be the first in line to attempt to take the title from Weidman, according to Yahoo! Sports. Vitor Belfort, another accomplished fighter, doesn’t seem to care for that idea one bit:

For all intents and purposes, let’s say that Silva decides he wants to win the middleweight belt back and the rematch gets scheduled for the near future. If that happens, he’s still going to be in trouble. Weidman was able to beat him and didn’t even need to get him to submit, which is how he’s most dangerous.

In a potential rematch, Silva would need to come in with a better strategy than he had on Saturday. He can’t enter the Octagon and expect Weidman to be caught off guard by his antics. He needs to play on the offensive for the duration of the match instead of dancing around and waiting for Weidman to make a move.

But even if Silva enters the rematch smarter than before, the odds still won’t be in his favor. Weidman is the champion and deserves to be. While Silva has had the better career, he’s no longer the guy to beat, and it’s now known that there is a way to beat him. Silva will fail at beating Weidman a second time in a potential rematch.

Weidman may not hang on to the middleweight belt for as long as Silva managed to, but if the two take the Octagon again in the future with the title on the line, expect the same result from Saturday night—a victory for Weidman.