I think it is very underestimated.
I also truly believe he let Sonnen take him down in round 1 of Silva Sonnen II just to prove a point!
I think Weidman doesn't stand much of a chance to be honest and quite frankly sick of hearing that he is going to manhandle and destroy Silva its an insult to the GOAT 
Disagree that he let Chael take him down, but it is very solid. 
Lol
Chael took him down in the first because Silvas corner forgot to upload the wrestling program into his brain before he walked out. If you look after the first round you can see someone on a laptop , and something connected to the back of SIlvas head.
Watch what silva says to his cornerman right before they leave the cage .. He says "Eu sei como parar a eliminações" which means I know how to stop takedowns.
The second round was Mr. Anderson all day
Definitely much harder to take down than people think.
Depends how much vaseline he can smear over his body, how often he grabs the fence/shorts, etc.
I just rewatched the bonner fight the other day and goldy said Anderson had the second best takedown defence in middleweight history
he definitely has great technique
"Silva's takedown defence"
Can't wait for this fight already to see!
Anderson's BBC in my Goku -
he definitely has great technique
sonnen had nothing on that first gif anyway, but yes holding shorts isn't legal.
as for the second gif, since we all trane here, it's already a known fact that an insignificant amount of vaseline on the sternum renders any sort of takedown impossible.
Ah, the UG, a good point can seldom be made without getting carried away.....
Andy's tdd IS under-rated for sure! But lmao at him letting Chael get the the td in R1 of the rematch, did you see the fight? That was MMA TDs 101: getting someone to commit themselves to really punching you, leaving your hips exposed for a double. Cmon man, no need for the silliness.
Even though Andy did grab Chael's shorts, he also did employ good positioning to thwart the tds in R2 (when Andy grabbed Chael's shorts, he already had the underhooks, would have been tough for Chael to get into good position for the td as it was). Okami has managed to td everyone in the UFC MW he's faced, except Chael and Andy iirc (cant remember if he took or really tried for the td against Nate).
Hendo got the td in R1 but its been a long perpetuated myth that all Hendo had to do was go for the td again in R2 and beyond and he would have rinse/repeated R1 (in which he did absolutely nothing on the ground to begin with). Hendo DID try for some tds in R2 but got stuffed. Another thing that's overlooked is that fighters rarely get into range to take Anderson down.
Great post Wasa-B
I still think he let him just to prove a point, im sure his corner mentioned something after round 1 about that being the game plan
People forget that the first few seconds of a fight is the easiest time to complete a takedown. This is when the wrestler will be his most explosive and his opponent hasn't had a chance to gauge timing. Also forgotten is that just a few seconds after the short grabbing, Silva shut down Sonnen's patented power double then his Olympic level Greco just after, using legitimate techniques. It's clear that Silva's TDD is better than simply good.
Weidman will enter this fight a more effective wrestler than Chael or Henderson. If he stays calm and realizes that Silva will probably defend the take down a couple times and probably even stand up from being on bottom...I think Weidman will over time expose Silvas ground game and begin to overwhelm him. Weidman has taken out some of the best wrestlers and jiu jitsu fighters in the UFC and ADCC. The only trouble Weidman could get into is if he gets hasty.
Takedowns are easy until you fight someone like Anderson.