UFC 162's Chris Weidman as popular upset pick: 'Gives extra boost of confidence'

Despite being a 2-to-1 underdog to UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, fellow UFC 162 headliner Chris Weidman has been a popular underdog pick in recent weeks.

The title challenger has noticed too.

Weidman (9-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC), a Division I All-American wrestler who’s undefeated since his move to MMA in 2009, meets Silva (33-4 MMA, 16-0 UFC) in the headliner of Saturday’s pay-per-view event at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. While Weidman’s a +200 underdog with most sportsbooks, fellow fighters and many industry insiders have predicted he’ll pull off the upset.

Doing so against Silva, arguably the greatest fighter in UFC history, is no easy task. The 38-year-old champ, after all, is on an overall 17-fight win streak, owns UFC records for consecutive wins (16) and title defenses (10), and he’s knocked out four straight opponents.

Yet, Weidman, who’s just four years and nine fights into his MMA career, is seen a possible upsetter by many.

“I was kind of getting the feeling a lot of fighters were picking me,” he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “It’s awesome that my peers see something in me that I could beat the greatest of all-time. I see it myself, but it gives me a little extra boost of confidence when other guys are seeing it too.

“Most of them are not even in the gym with me. They’re just going based off my fights. I think the guys that are in the gym with me feel that even more.”

Weidman believes those supporters would be even more impressed if they saw his pre-fight preparations. After earning his title shot with wins over the likes of Demian Maia and Mark Munoz, the 29-year-old Serra-Longo Fight Team member decided to button up his camp.

Rather than the usual laid-back approach, he stuck to strict daily schedules and molded his preparations specifically around Silva.

“We made some changes to the camp, actually,” he said. “It was run a little bit more professionally than usual. We had John Danaher, who kind of stepped up and organized the camp professionally. Things were actually scheduled. We had a camp that kind of concentrated on Anderson’s weaknesses and strengths, and worked on ways to beat him in both areas.

“Most of my other camps were very general, and nothing was scheduled. It was kind of like just wake up and call people and work out as hard as I can. But this time, every day was planned out in advance. It was nice to have the comfort of not stressing out about what’s happening every day. Also, it was the first time we brought some people in to train with. I got a bunch of different looks, and I’m real happy with everything and the way it went.”

One of those fighters he brought in was Stephen Thompson. The longtime kickboxer and fellow UFC fighter is still early in his career, but Weidman said he brought the skills needed to prepare for Silva.

Sure, “Wonder Boy” is no Anderson Silva, but he played an important part in the camp, Weidman said.

“He’s actually sparred Anderson Silva before,” Weidman said. “He was able to emulate Anderson the best. He’s a little smaller than me, but for the standup, he helped me get used to the quickness. He’s been doing standup since he was like 4 years old, so he’s so relaxed in there, similar to Anderson. That was a big help, too.”

We won’t know until Saturday if Weidman is really prepared to dethrone the champ. After all, countless others have had no shortage of confidence prior to their meeting with the Brazilian, whose only struggles came against Chael Sonnen, whom the champ ended up beating twice anyway.

Weidman, though, is planning for a short night.

“I can’t really tell you exactly what’s going to happen; I wish I could,” he said. “But I’m going in there to finish the fight. I’m going in there to finish it fast.”

For more on UFC 162, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.