Weidman ends losing skid with 3rd-round submission of Gastelum

Chris Weidman finally had a happy homecoming.

After his previous trips to his native New York ended in disappointment, "The All-American" picked up an emotional submission win over Kelvin Gastelum with a third-round arm-triangle choke in the middleweight main event of UFC on FOX 25 in Long Island on Saturday.

It was the first win for Weidman since defeating Vitor Belfort by TKO in May 2015. Since that bout, his last successful defense of the middleweight title, Weidman was dethroned by Luke Rockhold, knocked out by Yoel Romero at Madison Square Garden, and then finished in confusing fashion by Gegard Mousasi in an April trip to The Empire State.

In the opening round of his bout with Gastelum, it looked like the New York curse might strike again.

After using his wrestling to control Gastelum for the majority of Round 1, Weidman was knocked off of his feet by a powerful right-left combination in the closing seconds:

That flurry could have won Gastelum the first round, so Weidman made sure to open Round 2 with another takedown. The larger man was able to hold Gastelum down for the most part, spending plenty of time in full guard and back control.

Gastelum was still giving Weidman headaches in Round 3. As Weidman became more bold with his striking, Gastelum responded by doing his best Anderson Silva impression to evade several blows:

But Weidman eventually went back to his grappling, taking Gastelum down and maneuvering himself into position for an arm-triangle that Gastelum fought off for as long as he could before tapping out.

The All-American used his post-fight interview time to call for a bout with UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping, referring to him only as "That British bum."

Related: Bisping responds to Weidman's challenge: 'Say my name b----'

Gastelum loses for the first time in five UFC appearances at 185 pounds. The 25-year-old has long insisted that he plans to move back down to 170 pounds despite struggling to make that weight cut, and this setback may be what nudges him in that direction for good. His UFC record falls to 7-3 with one no-contest.