Athletes
Chris Weidman | Standing The Test Of Time
Former Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman Returns To The Octagon To Face Eryk Anders At UFC 310: Pantoja vs Asakura
Mixed martial arts is a “what have you done for me lately” business. But it’s important to look beyond the last few years of the sport sometimes and remember just what was done before.
Like Chris Weidman’s reign as middleweight champion. For 889 days from 2013 to 2015, the Long Islander ruled the division, not only dethroning an all-time great in Anderson Silva and beating him a second time, but also defeating two more former champions in Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort before losing his crown to Luke Rockhold.
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Weidman’s reign, which was bested only by Silva and Israel Adesanya, doesn’t get its just due these days, but when the 185-pound belt has changed four times in the last two years, it shows how special this achievement was.
“I appreciate that,” said Weidman when I talk about his time as champion. “Any love I get from people for what I've done in the past and what I'm still doing, especially with all the adversity that I've come across, is great.”
You might think that this is a post-mortem on a heck of a career, but we’re not here to bury “The All-American.” On the contrary, Weidman has a new lease on his fighting life at 40 as he approaches his Saturday bout with Eryk Anders.
That’s probably not what most would have expected after Weidman suffered a horrific leg break against Uriah Hall in 2021. But after a brutal rehab on his leg, he made it back to the Octagon in the summer of 2023. That fight against Brad Tavares didn’t go his way, but a March bout with Bruno Silva did, resulting in his first win since 2020. It was a feel-good story, especially when you consider what he went through, a process documented in the ESPN film “The Return.”
And no, Weidman doesn’t have that documentary playing on a loop in his home in South Carolina.
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“I watched the documentary when it came out, but no, I don't go back and the watch any of that, it's in the past,” he said.
Chris Weidman | Top Finishes
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Chris Weidman | Top Finishes
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It’s likely the greatest feeling in the world for him to say that, because even when he got the green light to train again, there were still those lingering doubts and the pain that came along with it.
“You always got these nagging injuries from the leg injury when you start, but you still train hard through it, and you’ve got to work around things,” Weidman said of the early days of recovery. “And then when it clears up, you just feel like a brand-new person. You're like, oh my gosh, I'm not dealing with that pain anymore. You got a new lease on life.”
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These days, training camp is just training camp, same as it always was. So there’s blood and sweat, but not too many, if any, tears when it comes to his leg.
“My leg is feeling great,” he said, fielding a question that will follow him for the rest of his career. “I'm kicking with it a lot and I'm not really thinking about it too much. In my last fight, I was able to get that monkey off my back and I threw a whole bunch of leg kicks and body kicks, head kicks, with my right leg. So that gave me a lot of confidence because the fight before that, I thought I was going to be able to do that, but I couldn't do it. My body or my brain wouldn't let me do it, but I'm happy I got that out my system.”
Which lends one to believe that Saturday will see Weidman back in his best form as he returns to face Anders. But how many more times will we see him? He’s not putting a timetable on it.
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“I don't really know,” he said. “I am taking it fight-by-fight, I’ll see what's on the table, see the pros and the cons, and then make decisions based on that. Right now, I feel good, I feel good in this training camp, and I still feel like I can compete with the best of them. It's going to be over soon, and I don't want to close myself off from doing some great things when I still feel like I have the ability to do it. So it's definitely going to be over sooner than later, but I’m going to just try and make the most of it and do the most I can with my ability, and then when it's over, it's over.”
UFC 310: Pantoja vs Asakura took place live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 7, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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