A two-time NCAA Division One All-American, Weidman had a total of 20 fights in the UFC spanning 13 years. After amassing an MMA record of 9-0, his tenth win would be his most famous as he was the man to end Anderson Silva’s seven-year reign as UFC Middleweight Champion in what is one of the biggest upsets in MMA history. Their rematch would be as memorable for more gruesome reasons as Silva would break his leg in the second round. From there, Weidman would defend the belt against Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort before losing it to Luke Rockhold in December 2015.

Following the loss to Rockhold, Weidman would be one of the public faces of the UFC when MMA was finally legalized in the state of New York (where Weidman is from), and would get to fight on the first Madison Square Garden card in November 2016. However, he would go on to lose on that night against Yoel Romero. In a cruel moment that mirrored his second fight with Silva, Weidman would break his own leg in 2021 against Uriah Hall and would miss two years of action, and upon his return, he would fight just three more times before retiring from the UFC in January 2025. With that said, Weidman is getting back to his wrestling roots as he was recently announced to be facing Colby Covington at Real American Freestyle’s RAF 09 event on May 30.

The war of words between Sean Strickland and Khamzat Chimaev in the build up to UFC 328 had a lot of people wondering if we might see someone actually get shot inside the octagon it was that heated. However, once the cage door shut, the two men touched gloves, hugged it out at the end of the fight, and when Strickland dethroned Chimaev to become the new champion, Chimaev even went as far as to wrap the belt around the new champion’s waist.

Considering extra security had to be drafted in to make sure the two men didn’t kill each other pre-fight, people naturally had questions regarding the legitimacy of their beef, and at the UFC 328 post-show press conference, Strickland admitted that he’s all out of hate, for now at least. “I go f****** so hard on everybody, and there’s always truth to what I say…but at the end of the day man, all the hate, all the hate’s out of me. I need the hate battery charged so I need a couple of days.” 

Later, Strickland appeared on the UFC 328 post show on Paramount+ where he was asked about Chimaev and their beef, to which Strickland essentially admitted that they both played up the feud to promote the fight. “I think Chimaev being Chechen, they have a lot of pride. So you know me, you guys know me, I say things some people might be offended, but I’m just joking. So sometimes I think he probably didn’t get my humor you know? From that part of the world, so he’s a good guy man, but we’re in the game of fighting. Would you guys really want me to go out there and be like ‘Yeah dude Chimaev is a really nice guy, let’s go and have a nice little fight?’ No you want me to go and mother f*** this guy. I do it for you guys…The guy’s a good dude.”

Please credit the original sources when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Considering his size and strength, it would have been quite a sight to see if Paul Wight (formerly known as The Big Show in WWE) had made the move over to mixed martial arts at some point in his career. Instead, he chose to stick to wrestling, with some acting thrown in for good measure. Speaking to Gareth A. Davies for an interview, the AEW star discussed that decision.

“Humbly, I didn’t need to,” Wight said. “I got into wrestling very early, 21, when I met Hogan and started in WCW. So financially it was a lottery ticket for me, and I’ve never really been a person who feels like I have something to prove.”

Wight did note that he spent some time doing boxing training during a break from WWE in 2007, and shared that he has a great deal of respect for anyone who engages in combat sports. The wrestler stated that it takes plenty of courage to step between the ropes while knowing that the person you’re facing is trying to hurt you.

“What was it my boxing trainer said? ‘Fatigue makes cowards of us all,'” Wight continued. “There’s a big difference in fight conditioning versus other conditioning. That 10 months of boxing I did with Artie Artwell, a boxing trainer, changed the game for me.”

In the same interview, Wight discussed his current status as a wrestler. Although he hasn’t wrestled publicly in several years, Wight is not yet retired, with several AEW stars that he remains excited to possibly work with.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Gareth A. Davies and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.