A former wrestling coach at Hofstra University and 2008 Olympic hopeful, Chris Weidman is a very talented up and coming prospect who has shown rapid improvement in his short MMA career. Weidman's athletic abilities and excellent base naturally attracted him to the sport of mixed martial arts, and after taking some time to contemplate whether he would continue coaching or take another shot at the Olympic's, Weidman decided to leave his position at Hofstra and joined the Serra-Longo Fight Team to focus on a career in MMA. In his short training time he's already shown a remarkable progression in his grappling and ground skills, and given his work ethic and athleticism the same might be said about the rest of his game very soon.

A standout collegiate wrestler, Weidman was a former two-time NJCAA and two-time NCAA Division I All-American wrestler prior to entering the sport and does hold a wrestling win over former Ultimate Fighter winner Ryan Bader. Weidman is an excellent athlete who is quick on his feet and possesses a diverse takedown game (see his beautiful footweep on James Brasco and equally impressive cross body Greco throw against Reubem Lopes, both below), a good single leg, solid takedown defense and a very strong wrestling pedigree overall. While his wrestling base and credentials are excellent, what's even more promising is that Weidman shows great maturity as a grappler and has taken significant steps towards developing his ground and grappling games beyond just his wrestling. He was the West Coast ADCC Champion and qualified for the finals of the 2009 ADCC Submission Wrestling Championships (one of the most prestigious grappling tournaments in the world) after only training his jiu jitsu game for eight months incredibly, and along the way picked up a submission win over former no-gi BJJ World Champion (as a brown belt) James Brasco (see below). Weidman displays tremendous ground control and a superb top game and has shown a ridiculous knack for submissions given his overall grappling experience. His timing and awareness have been unbelievable and Weidman shows all the makings of a natural who's developing a very technically sound ground game to compliment his wrestling base. Although there is definitely a difference between grappling in a pure sense and that which is effective in MMA, Weidman is learning the art correctly and given his style of ground game, rapid progression, and grappling repertoire (strong wrestler, great top game, technically proficient, good submission game etc.) it bodes very well for his future in the sport.

Weidman's overall striking game is still very green, but he does show aggressiveness on his feet and a developing technical standup game. He's a highly motivated fighter, a good athlete and he has a very respectable striking coach at his disposal in Ray Longo, so there is definitely reason to believe he'll be able to develop a sound striking game to compliment his abilities on the mat.