FWIW, Fedor wasnt particularly physically impressive either KOF, nor was Big Nog. Couture also nothing special from a purely physical standpoint. (Granted Couture is a bit overrated by some, imo, but the point stands.) Royce Gracie wasnt exactly a physical specimen either. Frankie Edgar is on that list as well. Also not particularly impressive physical specimens: Rich Franklin, Chuck "The Beergut" Liddell, Forrest Griffin, Evan Tanner, Josh Barnett. Thats a whole lot of UFC Champs that werent physical specimens. Granted, Liddell and Fedor had heavy, heavy hands, but Weidman is far from pillow-fisted. He's an incredibly well rounded fighter with solid boxing, great wrestling, and what seems to be an uncanny knack for BJJ.
As for champs with less impressive wins, Couture got the HW crown and a defense with wins over Sylvia and Bumzaga and then Lesnar took it from him with 1 UFC win on his record. Rich Franklin took his belt from the aforementioned Evan Tanner due to a doctor stoppage before facing off against obvious worldbeaters in Nate Quarry and David Loiseau (woo!). Tito won his belt by beating Wandy (impressive) then went on to defend it against Yuki Kondo (a WW), Evan Tanner (a MW), and Elvis Sinosic (7-11 career record woo!). Frank Shamrock, the previous LHW king, won his belt with a win over Kevin Jackson (who?) followed by a win over Igor Zinoviev (who?) followed by Jeremy Horn and John Lober (who? apparently he beat shamrock before and rode a 6 fight winless streak into a title bout...woo!).
So ya...I can name some title-holders with less impressive resumes, less physically impressive title-holders too.
As for fighters being scared: Leben wasnt scared cuz he's retiring, Okami wasnt scared cuz the loss to Jacare dropped him back out of title contention. Hendo wasnt scared cuz he's a LHW. Vitor not being scared is gonna be sorted out one way or the other the next time they step into the ring.
Not sure where the Weidman hate is coming from but I do understand feeling cheated by the way Silva lost. What we have seen is roughly 2.5 rounds between Weidman and Silva in which Weidman won all rounds and knocked out Silva once. Thats more time than we saw Hendo and Silva fight (and Hendo won round 1 and would've survived round two had he not made a costly mistake...similar to what happened to Silva the first time against Weidman) and more time than Silva and Belfort spent in the cage (Belfort getting KO'd by a blow at least as fluky as Weidman's first KO of Silva). I'm not a huge Weidman fanboy by any stretch. Frankly, I thought he wasnt being thrown to the wolves too soon and needed another big win or two before going up against Silva. I was a surprised as anyone by the first fight, and as let down as anyone by the way the rematch ended. That being said, I have a healthy respect for his skills and what he was able to do in the time he spent in the octagon against Silva.
Going outside the sport for a second, other guys who didnt look that impressive physically or on paper: Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, David Wells, Greg Maddux, Kirby Puckett, Tony Gwynn, Charles Barkley...physical attributes arent everything, it only took one skinny Brazillian and one UFC event to prove that.
