Chris Weidman’s long-time coach Matt Serra won’t be in his corner for his upcoming title shot against Anderson Silva at UFC 162 next month.
The recently retired Serra is dealing with health issues following a series of blood clots, and combined with the recent birth of his daughter that’s left him unable to coach Weidman alongside Ray Longo at the event.
Instead, Weidman has opted to bring his father in as his coach opposite Longo instead for the biggest fight of his life.
It’s definitely a blow for Weidman – Serra’s a very vocal coach who would have been offering up plenty of advice from cage-side as he’s done for all his previous fights, so his absence will be notable. Even Longo has admitted that he too will miss the former welterweight champion’s presence at the fight, saying, “he kind of rounds me out as a coach.”
There’s been quite a bit of upheaval at Team Serra-Longo recently, with another of their best known students, Costa Philippou having decided to leave for a new fight camp.
That’s perhaps for the best though given that Philippou also has aspirations of one day fighting for the middleweight title which could put him on a collision course with Weidman.
