Former middleweight champion Chris Weidman, who ended Anderson Silva's long title reign, announces his retirement from MMA

Chris Weidman, who ended Anderson Silva's nearly seven-year reign as middleweight champion, announced his retirement from mixed martial arts on Friday. Weidman, 40, was an All-American collegiate wrestler at Hofstra, but had no amateur MMA bouts. He took four fights on the regional circuit before joining the UFC in 2011.

In just over two years, he was the middleweight champion, knocking out Silva and ended the legendary Brazilian's 16-fight winning-streak and his long title reign.

Weidman completed his MMA career on Dec. 7 with a loss to Eryk Anders at UFC 310 in Las Vegas. He finished his career 16-8 overall and 12-8 in the UFC. He had two wins over Silva and individual victories over former champions Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort, as well as wins over Demian Maia, Kelvin Gastelum and Mark Muñoz.

"When he was uninjured, I think he was unstoppable, to be honest with you," his long-time coach, Ray Longo, said. "No amateur fights and just four fights on the local region and gets called up to the UFC. He runs through five guys, gets a title shot against the greatest of all-time, beats him and was doing it again when [Silva] injured his leg. 

"They asked him after the first one, 'You just beat the greatest of all-time. Do you want to do it again? He was like, 'Sure, of course. Why not?' Guys today, it's like, they're jockeying for this and jockeying for that, and they need this, and they need five months to be ready and all this other stuff. Weidman was a different cat. He really was. It was a pleasure working with him."

In a bitter irony, Silva horribly broke his leg kicking Weidman in their rematch, and then Weidman similarly broke his in a fight with Uriah Hall at UFC 261 on April 24, 2021. There was plenty of conjecture that he would never fight again, but he vowed he would be back.

And 28 months later, he returned to face Brad Tavares at UFC 292 on Aug. 19, 2023. 

"He set an example for the guys with how he overcame that injury," Longo said. "They documented there was a football player with that same injury and it was bad. Anderson had it, too, but Chris's was work because it went through the skin. He showed incredible grit and determination. He didn't want to go out like that. And he was one of those guys who didn't mind sacrificing his body if it was for the betterment of his family.

"Think of the example he set for his kids. It wasn't about winning and losing. It was about getting your ass up and getting to work and doing it."