Chris Weidman suffered one of the most devastating injuries in UFC history nearly two years ago.
The former middleweight champion found himself face down in immense pain just 17 seconds into his UFC 261 bout with Uriah Hall. After throwing a leg kick, the only blow delivered in the brief bout, Weidman crashed to the canvas with his leg snapped clean in half. The horrifying injury immediately drew comparisons to the leg break suffered by Anderson Silva eight years prior at UFC 168. Ironically, Silva’s injury that night would come against Weidman in the evening’s main event.
Nearly two years removed from the potentially career-ending injury, Chris Weidman is feeling good and believes he is close to making his return to the Octagon. Appearing on UFC Unfiltered, ‘All American’ shared details of his recovery and updated fans on his current condition.
“I got a titanium rod through the middle of my shin bone – right through the whole (bone), from the top of my knee all the way down to the low part of my ankle to the bottom of the tibia,” Weidman said. “On paper, I think I’m pretty good. For me to break my bone and then through the rod, I don’t think that’s going to happen. A compound fracture is not going to be happening. But you know what? My goal is to kick as hard as I possibly can, so maybe it does happen. I just want to defy the odds. Imagine that.
“I’m good. I’m pretty much there. When I’m up on my toes and stuff like that and I start bouncing, I get like a little pain on the shin and stuff. But they’re saying that is just based on the quad and the calf need to get a little bit stronger still. When that happens, I’ll be good. I’m just doing physical therapy and still working on that.”
OMG Chris Weidman’s Leg!! #UFC261 #UFC pic.twitter.com/G7e1UZtg1D
— That Blitz Guy (@ThatBlitzGuy) April 25, 2021
Chris Weidman Has His Sights Set on a Return at UFC 290 in July
With an injury as horrendous as the one suffered by Chris Weidman, it’s reasonable to believe his career in combat sports was over, but ‘All American’ says he is far from done inside the Octagon. In fact, Weidman is eyeing a return to the Octagon this summer during the promotion’s International Fight Week festivities.
“I think in the summer – sometime in the summer,” Weidman said. “I was saying June, but I’m thinking maybe International Fight Week. Sometime around that time period, I’ll be good to go (at) 185. I got down to 210 for this grappling event and my weight’s not flying back up again, so I’ll be good. I’ll be good to make 185 now.”
Reliving the moment he realized his leg was essentially in two pieces, Weidman did his best to describe his thought process upon understanding what had happened and the corresponding pain he felt as the cageside medical team attempted to assist by putting his leg back in place.
“As soon as I broke my leg and I saw it, I go, ‘Holy crap!’ I saw the bones and everything,” Weidman said. “I just remembered Anderson Silva screaming in pain, like someone was murdering him. And I know this is going to suck and here comes – and as soon as I felt the pain kick in I was just begging people ‘Please!’
“Now they’re moving my leg around. They’re trying to hold it into place as they get me on a stretcher and all this crap, and the bones are moving around. And the pain – I can’t even explain the pain. The pain was the worst thing I could ever imagine. I kept begging them to give me pain pills: ‘Give me something quick. Put me to sleep. Get me on painkillers. Knock me out. I cannot deal with this.’ This is not meant for human beings to deal with.”
Transcription by MMA Junkie
