Baldwin fighter mixes it up

By Jeff Lipton

When Chris Weidman was earning state championship honors as a wrestler at Baldwin High School in early 2000, he never would have predicted that he was actually preparing for the rough and grueling sport of mixed martial arts.

Weidman, 26, a lifelong Baldwin resident, began a long and distinguished grappling career when he joined the Baldwin Kids Wrestling Club in third grade. Most recently, however, he used his wrestling skills, along with jujitsu and kickboxing, to win the prestigious Ring of Combat middleweight mixed martial arts championship at the Tropicana Resort and Casino in Atlantic City on Sept. 24.

Weidman captured the title with a first-round technical knockout of previously unbeaten Uriah Hall, defeating him with a flurry of punches.

“I dropped him with a left hook at 3:02 of the first round,” Weidman said — in front of a crowd that included nearly 250 people from his hometown.

The first round is when Weidman has done most of his fighting. Although an MMA match consists of three five-minute rounds, Weidman’s fights have all ended in the first, either via TKO or submission. His win over Hall was his third straight on the circuit.

For someone who didn’t show any interest in the sport until 2008, Weidman, who fights at 185 pounds, has quickly emerged as a top middleweight prospect in MMA, which is one of the world’s fastest-growing sports.

Weidman graduated from Baldwin High in 2002 and attended Nassau Community College for two years before transferring to Hofstra University in 2007. At Hofstra, he earned a degree in psychology and, later, a master’s in phys. ed. He was named an All-American wrestler four times during his collegiate career, and is now introduced as Chris “The All-American” Weidman before his MMA fights.

After graduating from Hofstra, Weidman coached the wrestling team for a year, but gave it up because it was too time-consuming. He next tried out for the U.S. wrestling team with the goal of making the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, but fell just short, taking third in the Olympic Trials.

Weidman was then faced with a decision: Did he want to train for the 2012 Olympics or get involved in mixed martial arts? He had previously helped coach some MMA fighters, and thought he could find success on the MMA circuit. “Before that I really didn’t have an interest in it,” he said. “I liked watching it on TV, but I didn’t think that I’d get heavily involved in it. Still. I picked it up pretty fast.”

He began to train under Ray Longo at Longo’s gym in Garden City, as well as Ultimate Fighting champion and Long Island resident Matt Serra. Weidman says that, like wrestling, MMA involves “a lot of stamina and a lot of technique.” To add skills to his already impressive arsenal, he trains twice a day, six days a week, combining jujitsu, wrestling and kickboxing work with cardiovascular and strength training. His training usually begins about eight weeks before a fight.

He plans to defend his Ring of Combat belt on Dec. 3, and is currently in negotiations with some of the sport’s top promoters. The Ring of Combat circuit is a well-respected “feeder” league, giving young fighters experience before they graduate to bigger organizations like Strike Force, Bellator and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Weidman now earns around $10,000 per fight, but says his fees are “getting better.” His fights have not yet appeared on television, but have been streamed on the Internet.

He has suffered his share of injuries during his career, undergoing five knee surgeries and a procedure to fuse a piece of his hip bone to a joint in his hand. Most of these injuries occurred during training.

Weidman says that when his fighting career ends, he hopes to open his own gym and help train other MMA warriors. In the meantime, he is enjoying life on the MMA circuit. “I want to take this as far as I can,” he said, “or as long as my body holds up.”

Comments about this story? Jlipton@liherald.com.