5 of the biggest upsets in UFC history

3. Chris Weidman def. Anderson Silva - UFC 162

One of the most beloved figures in the history of the UFC, Anderson Silva was an absolute beast at 185 pounds. Arriving to the promotion in 2006, he quickly knocked off Chris Leben before knocking out Rich Franklin at UFC 64 to capture the middleweight title, kickstarting a legendary run of dominance with the gold.

Silva won his first 16 fights in the Octagon (still a UFC record) and defended the title 10 times (which was a UFC record before Demetrious Johnson's 11th flyweight title defense in 2017) — along with a few light heavyweight wins mixed in. Silva's middleweight title reign is the longest in UFC history at 2457 days.

When Chris Weidman stepped up to face Anderson Silva at UFC 162, he was just 10-0 in professional MMA (5-0 in the UFC). He hadn't fought since a July 2012 win over Mark Munoz due to injury and Hurricane Sandy affecting his native New York. While Weidman had his supporters, he was being matched up against someone dominant and way more experienced than him.

But on this July 2013 night, Weidman showed how experience isn't always a guaranteeing factor in determining a fight. The former NCAA All-American wrestler took Silva down in the opening round and showed some impressive ground-and-pound. Silva then started to play with Weidman in the second round, taunting him and dropping his guard. That proved to be a mistake, as Weidman caught Silva on the button with his hands and dropped him en route to a second-round TKO that sent Las Vegas into a frenzy.

Silva went on to break his leg in their rematch at the end of the year and ended up being a shadow of himself for the rest of his UFC career. Weidman had success afterward with successful defenses against Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort, but he had a similar downturn after dropping the title to Luke Rockhold — and even having a leg break that was just as bad, if not worse, than Silva's.

But what can't be taken away is Weidman had three successful title defenses and became a star all thanks to this amazing upset.