Sports

LI’s Chris Weidman stuns Anderson Silva to become UFC middleweight champion

Chris Weidman reacts to his victory over Anderson Silva in their UFC middleweight championship fight. (Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

LAS VEGAS – The greatest of all time? The best champion in UFC history?

Chris Weidman, a kid from Long Island with just nine pro fights, said he knew he could beat legend Anderson Silva. As if that wasn’t ridiculous enough, on Saturday night that’s exactly what he went out and did.

In one of the most stunning results in combat sports history, Weidman knocked out Silva at 1:18 of the second round, ending his seven-year reign as UFC middleweight champion at UFC 162 inside MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Weidman was a +200 underdog here, the smallest for a Silva opponent in five years, and many fighters thought he had the skill set to beat the man who had never lost in the UFC, a span of 16 straight fights and 10 title defenses.

Actually doing it, though, was another matter.

“No one is invincible,” Weidman said after the fight.

The end was truly bizarre. Silva was messing around with Weidman, dropping his hands and pretending to be hurt when he actually wasn’t. But then Weidman really did hurt him – badly.

The Baldwin native and former Hofstra All-American wrestler landed a left hook on Silva’s chin, sending him to the canvas. Weidman jumped on top of him, landing more punches until referee Herb Dean pulled him off.

“I felt I was destined for this, but it still seemed far-fetched,” the 29-year-old Weidman said. … “He’s the unbeatable frickin’ Bruce Lee of martial arts.”

Weidman (10-0) said he didn’t feel disrespected by Silva’s antics. In fact, he anticipated he would try to play those kinds of mind games. Initially, they got to him. Silva ended the first round with a flourish, including some brutal leg kicks, and he seemed to be in Weidman’s head.

“I don’t see him as being cocky,” Weidman said. “I see him as trying to mentally defeat you in there. It’s like any type of style. It works for him.”

It didn’t Saturday night. Silva (33-5) took the mental warfare too far and Weidman made him pay, making history in the process. A reporter asked UFC president Dana White about the bout potentially being fixed, that Silva took a fall, to which White replied: “That’s the stupidest f—— thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“The guy knows what he’s capable of doing,” White said of Silva. “The guy knows what kind of punishment he’s capable of taking. If he won tonight, we’d all be going, ‘Holy s—, I’ve never seen anything like that. He’s the greatest.’”

Silva, 38, told UFC color commentator Joe Rogan immediately after the fight that he was “tired” and he didn’t want a rematch, nor to fight for the belt anymore. Silva, who just signed a new 10-fight deal with the UFC, said he wasn’t retiring. But the future Hall of Famer, who has always been an enigma, was non-committal about what his future plans were.

He took a step back in the press conference. Silva gave vague answers, but didn’t rule out a rematch. He just said he wanted to go home to his family for a few months and rest.

“There’s a lot of pressure in defending this title,” Silva said through a translator. “I’ve been defending this title for a long time. I need some time off for awhile.”

White was adamant there would be a rematch and didn’t want to talk about any other possibilities. Weidman was certainly open to one, nodding his head when it was brought up.

“I’ve never had a problem getting Anderson to fight,” White said. … “Anderson has never said, I won’t fight this guy, I won’t fight that guy.”

That was when he was on top, the undisputed champion. A new page has turned. Weidman has dethroned MMA’s version of Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali.

That’s fact no matter what the conspiracy theorists believe and there are many considering Silva was booed lustily by the Vegas crowd when it was over.

“They’re going to say Chris got lucky, they’re going to say I underestimated him,” Silva said, “but we gotta respect what he did, respect that he beat me.”

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New Jersey’s Frankie Edgar snapped a three-fight losing streak with an exciting unanimous decision win over Charles Oliveira in the co-main event. Edgar used his boxing and wrestling to take all three rounds from the Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter on two judges’ cards.

mraimondi@nypost.com