Baldwin UFC champ loses title

UFC middleweight champion and Baldwin native Chris Weidman suffered the first loss of his professional fighting career last Saturday night, losing the title and his undefeated streak to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194 in a fourth round TKO at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Weidman, who first won the championship in 2012 defeating Anderson Silva, was lucky to escape the third round after Rockhold pounced on the champ, capitalizing on ill-advised wheel kicks thrown in apparent desperation by Weidman.

Those in attendance and those who watched the fight live thought the match was over at that point, as Rockhold had Weidman on the ground seemingly helpless as he barraged the middleweight champion with punches to the face and torso. A controversial call by referee Herb Dean to not waive off the fight allowed Rockhold to finish the job at 3:12 in the fourth round and win his first championship.

“I was surprised it wasn’t waived off,” Rockhold told reporters after the fight. “But when I get into top control there’s no one who can stop me.”

The decision of Dean to not stop the fight became a point of debate among pundits and fans after the fight. The third round brutality was so apparent that UFC President Dana White addressed the situation after the pay-per-view to a UFC commentator.

“When a guy is that hurt and out of it and has trouble getting up, it probably should have stopped,” he said. “You know, but Weidman’s durable. He’s a durable, tough guy. He always has been. It’s crazy how in a fight one little mistake pretty much ended the fight for him.”

That one mistake was the wheel kick that Weidman turned to in the third round, a move that he seldom performs.

Weidman and his coach, Ray Longo were expected to return to Long Island on Monday, Dec. 14. They own a gym in Garden City, Longo-Weidman MMA.