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Although he might not be comfortable saying it himself, Ray Longo is the main man behind former champion Chris Weidman's meteoric rise to the top of the UFC's middleweight division. From the moment the Hofstra wrestler returned from a failed Olympic wrestling tryout in 2008, Longo has been in his corner.



Their relationship is far more layered than the surface coach/fighter tag indicates. As is the case with many of his fighters and students, Longo's bond goes far deeper with the people he chooses to share time with inside the gym. Longo and Weidman are family, and now, they are also business partners. The duo just opened LAW MMA in Garden City, New York.



For our latest installment of FloCombat Gym Stories, Longo shared a story from Weidman's days as a fresh-faced, relatively unknown and overly excited grappler looking to get his feet wet and his hands busy sparring for the first time.



"The one that sticks out was when Weidman was first training," Longo said. "He just walked in the gym. He was a natural. I was on the phone with a fighter looking for sparring. I barely knew Chris at that point. I never saw him spar. He hears me on the phone saying the guy was a wrestler looking for sparring. I get off the phone, and Chris is bugging me to spar. I say, 'Dude, look, you have potential. Don't rush it. Forget the sparring for now.'



"Well, the fighter comes down to the gym with his trainer. He had a fight lined up, and he just wanted to come down and get some work in. Coincidentally, Chris happened to be there at that moment. He asked me again to spar. I'm wondering how I could get Chris out of sparring. One time, I was on the phone, and then he just happens to be there when the other fighter shows up. Keep in mind, I have never seen Chris do anything. Well, he doesn't have a mouthpiece. That's the key. That's how I'll stop him."



"There was a mouthpiece at the other gym next door. It was on the dirty, nasty floor. There were no mats. It was laying under the Octagon, and you could barely see it. He picks the thing up off the floor and puts it in his mouth. He says, 'I got a mouthpiece.' I said right then and there, 'This guy is going to be a champion. This guy don't give a shit.' He went in to spar, and ended up beating the crap out of the guy. It lasted a round and a half. He looked like a professional.



"About a week later, one of the amateur fighters came in and said he lost his mouthpiece. I think Weidman put it back on the floor. I told the guy, 'I would wash that thing off about 100 times."