Weidman to fans: ‘Join the team. I love you’

The mass of the known universe is composed of 4.9% ordinary matter, 26.8% dark matter, and 68.3% dark energy. Thus 95.1% of the universe cannot be directly measured. Mixed martial arts can be that way, too.

Why a fighter attracts fans is based on more than fighting ability, skill, and looks.

Chris Weidman is the All American.

In 2012 he defeated then arguably the sport’s best BJJ based fighter in Demain Maia. And then he beat the at the time arguably best wrestling based fighter in the division in Mark Munoz. Then he crushed the greatest fighter in UFC history, twice.

After beating Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort, he remains undefeated. He is a clean cut family man, married to his high school girlfriend. He fulfills his media duties relentlessly and with humor.

But he has yet to connect with fans at a level commensurate with his ability. Post fight at UFC, he referenced it.

“Hey, stop doubting me,” shouted Weidman, as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMAFighting.com. “It’s enough. Stop doubting me. You better join the team now. This is my last invitation. Join the team. I love you.”

“I’m for real. I felt that after the Machida fight there was a good group of people that started following and there was believers. But with the time off, the haters just grew stronger and stronger, so I had to just come in here and do my thing again.”

Weidman is also human, and discussed getting hit by Belfort.

“He caught me with an uppercut and I was like, I probably should move out of here, this is not smart,” said Weidman. “And then as soon as I got out, I felt his punches get a little slower. I knew he’s gonna break before I break. It was fine.”

The UFC has booked a Dec 6 date at Madison Square Garden, in anticipation that New York will at long last do the right thing, and regulate professional mixed martial arts.

“I’m not missing the Madison Square Garden fight, that’s for sure,” Weidman said. “That’s all I really care about. Asking about ‘Jacare’ or Rockhold, honestly it doesn’t matter. I want to fight either one of them, but in Madison Square Garden. As long as I’m in that venue, I’m a happy man. That’s a dream.”

While Wedman was the favorite with the oddsmakers, he feels he is not yet there with the fans.

“Vegas always has my back,” he said . “That’s why all my friends can’t make that much money on me from Anderson Silva fights all the way until now. They’re always pretty smart. But the general public, Twitter, just in general, I feel like I’ve done a lot so far – I’ve beaten Anderson Silva twice, Lyoto Machida and now Vitor Belfort. I think people gotta start realizing something.”

What then is the dark matter that attracts fans? What do Conor McGregor, Donald Cerrone, Ronda Rousey, Mark Hunt, Nick Diaz, JDS, and others have, that Chris Weidman doesn’t quite have yet?