"It's right here," Weidman said while pointing to his head during a recent media dinner in Las Vegas. No, he's not going to head butt Silva to death. Rather, he feels that it is his degree in psychology that will be the reason that he ends Silva's reign as pound for pound king. "I saw how psychology can help me in fighting and I refuse to buy into any fighter's hype."

It may sound crazy, but he just might be right. If you go back and look at the build up to Silva's previous fights -- with the exception of Chael Sonnen -- it appears that most, if not all, of Silva's opponents were beaten down mentally before the fight ever began.

"The best trait that (Silva) has is that he's earned a certain mystique about him where people fear him before you even get into the cage," Weidman says. "Once you get into the cage he does a great job of making you feel like he's that much better than you and his opponents wither and die."

Weidman has studied Silva and his in-ring antics and doesn't see the showboating that Silva has often done inside of the Octagon as disrespectful. Instead, he views it as a method to tap into his foe's mind.

"There's a point that can be made that (Silva's showboating) is bad for the sport but what he's doing is mentally breaking that guy down," Weidman explains while pointing to examples such as the Brazilian's drunken boxing style against Demian Maia and taunting Thales Leites. " When you have your hands up and are very tense and your opponent is doing that it can blow your mind. It has you thinking 'oh my god, this guy can kill me whenever he wants!' Even though it may look like he's being cocky, it's definitely a mental breakdown."

For Weidman, his psychology degree has helped him understand that contact sports, though physical, require a certain mental toughness. Rather than be concerned with what the man standing across the cage can do to him, he's fixated on what he can do to his opponent. He says that Sonnen employed a similar strategy that worked wonders in his first fight with Silva.

"(Silva's mind games) didn't get to Chael," Weidman said. "He walked forward, punched him in the face and took him down. I'm going to do the same thing. I just think my skill set will be a better matchup. If I get on top of him, it will be a relaxed consistent set up for submissions. It won't be a lot of punching and aggression, it will be picking shots for devastating ground and pound and pick spots to score a submission."

It's no secret that Silva hasn't been eager to jump at the opportunity to fight Weidman. While some may feel that it is because Weidman doesn't have the biggest name, the 28-year-old figures that there is far more to it than that.

"There are a lot of reasons why Silva hasn't been anxious to take the fight, but the #1 reason is that I am a terrible matchup for him," Weidman said. "I don't think he's fought anybody who is better in as many areas as I am. I'm young, I'm hungry, I don't have the biggest name so people are going to expect him to beat me."

By stripping away the Silva mystique, Weidman says that the Brazilian becomes a mere mortal than the superhero others make him out to be.

"I simply refuse to buy into people's hype and on July 6 I'm not letting any of that get into my way."