- Chris Weidman discussed the eye poke controversy in his win over Bruno Silva
- “The All-American” talked about postponing his retirement
Chris Weidman has been seeking his first victory since 2020 following a leg injury in 2021 and secured a controversial decision win against Bruno Silva due to eye pokes.
Controversial yet fulfilling
Weidman vs. Silva at UFC Atlantic City was not short of dramatic moments as the fight ended in a rare technical decision. In the middle of the third round, “The All-American” managed to bring Silva to the ground, launching a flurry of strikes, prompting the referee to intervene and stop the fight.
Weidman was then declared the winner via a TKO but Silva immediately objected to the decision, pointing out that he was brought down by the former middleweight champion’s eye pokes. Upon review, the outcome was changed and judges relied on the scorecards. They came up with a technical decision but still in favor of Weidman.
Speaking to the media in his post-fight presser, Weidman was all smiles and was just happy that he finally copped a win despite the controversy.
“It feels amazing uh I was 4 and 0 here, started my pro fighting career here, never lost, came back, last four years I haven’t been in a fight where I didn’t break my leg so to be back in here and come out relatively feeling fresh other than a nice shiner. Fighting is fun man, it’s so stressful before you get in there and then afterwards you rip that band-aid off, you come out you feel like a million bucks,” Weidman said.
“Obviously, I’d rather [want] a TKO but I get it, I won all three rounds so I’ll take it,” he added.
Silva shouldn’t have dropped
Further addressing the eye pokes, “The All-American” pointed out that Silva should’ve known better and carried on.
“I’ll never question a guy if he’s saying he gets poked in the eye but you can’t just drop every time you feel like something’s touching your eyeball,” Weidman explained. “He poked me in the eye bad one time and I stood there took it. Unless the ref’s going to say something, I don’t drop.”
“I come from a wrestling background,” he continued. “It’s a similar thing, you can’t look to the ref for things, they’re not going to help you, sometimes it’s going to go against you. You got to be always ready and ready to defend yourself at all times. He dropped again, I don’t know like [if he] was looking for a way out I don’t know but that like you can’t just turn your back and fall to the ground every time that your eyeball feels poked.”
Chris is staying
As for talks of his retirement, Weidman admitted that he would’ve considered calling it a career if he lost. However, that wasn’t the case and he’s now postponing his retirement plan.
“I still think I have a lot of potential, and I’ve had a lot of adversity and I still think I have it,” Weidman said. “So, until I don’t think I have it anymore, I’m here. This is fun. I still have my brains. I still got my looks. Until one of those starts going, I’m here, man. This is too much fun, and I think I was meant to do this. I’ve been doing this for a really long time. I just wanted to go out there and let my instincts fly and go out there and have fun really win or lose.”
“I’ve considered it plenty of times,” he added. “I think if I would’ve lost tonight, if I would’ve not gotten my hand raised, it could’ve been the last time. I had that in my mind. If I was in there and I was just, ‘I don’t have it anymore,’ I may have out the gloves down, but it didn’t happen, and I got the win, so here I am.”
The win over Silva put Weidman is finally back to the win column following back-to-back losses to Brad Tavares and Uriah Hall. He now has a 16-7 pro MMA record.
Watch Weidman’s full presser below:
