LAS VEGAS -- The hero gets in trouble early and is bloodied by his foe. Urged on by a frenzied crowd, he rallies, and delivers an epic beatdown to finish off the fight. The crowd chants "U-S-A" while the victor drapes himself in Old Glory.
Sounds like the script for a Hulk Hogan vs. Iron Sheik match from the 1980s, right? And yet, this was essentially how things played out when Chris Weidman defeated Vitor Belfort to retain his UFC middleweight title Saturday night.
Weidman’s matchup was UFC 187’s co-feature bout, behind Daniel Cormier’s light heavyweight title win over Anthony Johnson. But the MGM Grand Garden Arena rocked and rolled to the Weidman-Belfort fight and treated it like the evening’s real main event.
Nearly two years after defeating Anderson Silva for the title in what many considered a fluke knockout, the message is clear: Weidman is on the brink of A-list stardom, and Saturday night likely marked the last time he’ll play second fiddle to anyone.
And the undefeated champion seems to know it, too.
"Hey, stop doubting me," Weidman said during his post-fight interview. "It's enough. Stop doubting me. You better join the team now. This is my last invitation. Join the team. I love you."
On the surface, it may have seemed in odd thing for someone to say at the precise moment they’re being showered with adulation. But you don’t have to dig too far beneath the surface to figure out why the Long Islander has a bit of a chip on his shoulder.
Weidman’s last four victories have come against certified legends of mixed martial arts, future Hall of Famers and champions over two weight classes.
His first victory over Silva, at UFC 162, was dismissed as a lucky punch. His win in the UFC 168 rematch was dismissed in some quarters because of Silva’s freak leg injury, which ignores the fact Weidman was dominating the fight up until that point. And his win over former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida was discounted because Machida came on strong over the final two rounds, which pretends as if what happens in the first doesn’t matter as much as the fifth.
"I'm for real," Weidman said. "I felt that after the Machida fight there was a good group of people that started following and there was believers. But with the time off, the haters just grew stronger and stronger, so I had to just come in here and do my thing again."
Weidman delivered in a bout that was a year in the making. Belfort, the controversial, 38-year-old former UFC light heavyweight champion, was fighting for the first time since Nevada banned testosterone replacement therapy last year. Belfort had racked up knockout after knockout while using TRT when it was legal.
Belfort came out flying in the fight’s early going and appeared to have Weidman in deep trouble, as he tied him up in the pocket and delivered uppercut after uppercut, opening a cut over Weidman’s left eye. But Weidman shook it off, Belfort gassed out by the fight’s two-minute mark, and Weidman took over, finishing the fight with a flurry of old-school ground-and-pound for the TKO win.
"He caught me with an uppercut and I was like, I probably should move out of here, this is not smart," Weidman said. "And then as soon as I got out, I felt his punches get a little slower. I knew he's gonna break before I break."
So now that the 13-0 Weidman seems to have won over the bulk of his detractors (we’ll forgive Brazilian fans for not jumping on the bandwagon, given how Weidman has picked off their MMA heroes one by one), what does he do for an encore? Weidman has his sights on the only city with the audacity to call their arena the world’s most famous: New York.
Weidman would like his next fight to be at Madison Square Garden, and it’s not as farfetched as it sounds. The UFC has attempted to get mixed martial arts legalized in the Empire State for years, but changes in the political landscape suggest this could be the year. The bill has passed the Senate, but has yet to be voted in by the Assembly.
The UFC is confident enough that this will be the year MMA passes that they’ve booked Dec. 5 at MSG. And Weidman wants to top the bill, no matter who the opponent may be.
"I’ll tell you what: I’m not missing the Madison Square Garden fight, that's for sure," Weidman said. "That's all I really care about. Asking about 'Jacare' [Souza] or [Luke] Rockhold, honestly it doesn't matter. I want to fight either one of them, but in Madison Square Garden. As long as I'm in that venue, I'm a happy man. That's a dream."
Regardless of his opponent, Weidman isn’t likely to take a backseat to anyone at MSG. But in case there are still any doubters, the champ had a final message.
"I feel like I've done a lot so far -- I've beaten Anderson Silva twice, Lyoto Machida and now Vitor Belfort," he said. "I think people gotta start realizing something."
Follow Dave Doyle on Twitter: @DaveDoyleMMA
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