Chris Weidman’s mother, Mary Weidman, reserved until fight day
UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman of Baldwin shares a laugh with his team during UFC 194 fight week on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015, in Las Vegas. Weidman fights Luke Rockhold on Saturday. Credit: Newsday / Mark La Monica
LAS VEGAS — Charlie Weidman is the talker in the family. He’ll tell you that — as will everyone else.
But then there’s Mary Weidman, mother of UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman, who defends his title against Luke Rockhold at UFC 194 on Saturday. She’s more reserved.
Until.
Until fight day and the hours tick down until her son steps into the octagon and starts throwing punches while trying to avoid the punches coming at him.
“When it gets to the fight day, it’s terrible,” Mary Weidman said. “You get more anxious as it gets closer.”
And then there’s that whole scene from Weidman’s title defense against Lyoto Machida in July 2014.
“I’m watching, and all of a sudden, he’s getting hit. I stood up and started running. I don’t know where I thought I was going,” she said. “But Marivi’s father [Chris’ father-in law] had to grab me and he says to me, ‘Where are you going?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, Vinny, I guess I’m going in the ring. I’m going to stop it.’ I was ready to climb in the cage. It’s the craziest thing.”
She didn’t stop there. Well, at least not vocally.
“I yelled at Dana White,” she said. “I was like, out of my mind,. I had to apologize to him after the match because I was yelling at him saying, ‘Why are you in this business? I don’t understand.’ And I’m usually such a calm person.”
And, yes, Chris heard about that from the boss after winning the unanimous decision over Machida.
“I think she scared Dana,” Weidman said. “Dana I remember came to the octagon and was like, ‘Now I know where you get it from.’ ”
This is nothing new for the Weidman family. During Chris’ wrestling matches growing up in Baldwin, his mother was the one filming them.
That was by design.
The emotions of a mother watching her son, the middle child, would overcome her if she wasn’t holding the camera.
“One time,” she said, “my husband actually had to stop me from crawling on the mat.”
Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.
