With a schedule that was a lot busier that one would want on a holiday weekend, I have to admit, I completely missed the huge UFC fight between Chris Weidman and Anderson Silva. Life in general has caught up to me and for that I was left watching the highlights on ESPN, wishing I could have seen it live. While I used to watch the fights when I could, lately I have seen very few. However, I recently photographed Chris Weidman in New York, and had intended to go to Vegas just to cheer him on.
Chris is one of those guys on set that crew and client celebrate having around. He is humble, energetic and absolutely hilarious. At many times during the photoshoot he made fun of himself, resulting in me having a very hard time shooting steady because I was laughing so much. In all honesty, I didn’t know of Chris before the photoshoot, but I knew of his competitor, Anderson Silva. He (Silva) was a man of extreme talent, and an even more extreme ego. Often dancing around the ring to belittle his opponents before defeating them, he represented the antitheses of good sportsmanship. While I don’t cheer the demise of someone’s career, I am celebrating Chris’s victory over Silva, as class, character and hard work defeated a naturally gifted man that all humility had escaped.
While I know that the future holds many title challenges and a probable rematch, I hope that we all can celebrate a guy that worked hard and succeeded against immense odds.
Congrats Chris