Former UFC Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman is widely considered by many to be certainly one of the best 185 pound fighters to ever step foot inside an octagon, and his profession will probably be celebrated this July as he will probably be inducted into the Modern Wing of the UFC Hall of Fame.
FROM LONG ISLAND TO THE HoF 🇺🇸
Former middleweight champion @ChrisWeidman joins the UFC Hall of Fame within the Modern Wing!! pic.twitter.com/BDupgbwnrY
— UFC (@ufc) May 10, 2026
Weidman was announced as the most recent inductee through the UFC 328 broadcast, where a video package aired in the world showing a few of Weidman’s biggest moments, messages from his family, friends, and training partners, before getting a standing ovation from the live crowd. Jon Anik on commentary noted that a lot of his friends who were there didn’t know in regards to the induction and that it was an exquisite surprise.
“The All-American” will join each Dominic Cruz and Demetrious Johnson as this 12 months’s inductees into the Modern Wing. Alex Pereira will receive the Forrest Griffin Community Award for his efforts to assist underprivileged children in his hometown of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship fight between Zhang Weili and Joanna Jedrzejczyk from UFC 248 will probably be inducted into the Fight Wing. On top of those inductions, it was quietly announced away from the printed that Thomas Gerbasi, the previous editing director of UFC.com and a well respected historian, will go into the Contributors Wing as a posthumous inductee as he passed away in September 2025 on the age of 57. The ceremony will happen on July 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada as a part of International Fight Week.
The Profession Of An All-American
A two-time NCAA Division One All-American, Weidman had a complete of 20 fights within the UFC spanning 13 years. After amassing an MMA record of 9-0, his tenth win could be his most famous as he was the person to finish Anderson Silva’s seven-year reign as UFC Middleweight Champion in what’s certainly one of the most important upsets in MMA history. Their rematch could be as memorable for more gruesome reasons as Silva would break his leg within 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 could be certainly one of the general public faces of the UFC when MMA was finally legalized within the state of Recent York (where Weidman is from), and would get to fight on the primary Madison Square Garden card in November 2016. Nonetheless, 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 motion, 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.