Chris Weidman may have landed the most eye pokes during his contentious clash with Bruno Silva, but it was the ‘All American’ who got the worst of the unintentional fouls during their UFC Atlantic City showdown.
After knocking down Silva in the third round with what appeared to be a well-placed check left hook, slow-motion replay later revealed that Weidman had poked Silva in the eye not once, but twice during the fight-ending sequence on Saturday night. Despite that, the former middleweight world champion was still declared the winner, initially by TKO before it was switched to a unanimous decision after taking the eye pokes into account.
Still, Silva was infuriated and announced his intent to dispute the ruling with the New Jersey State Athletic Commission.
Ever since the unfortunate finish, Chris Weidman has remained adamant that Silva is simply blowing the egregious fouls out of proportion and that none of the eye pokes he delivered to Silva were nearly as bad as the thumb he took to the eye during the bout.
“He poked me in the eye and it looked bad, but you blink once or twice and you’re good,” Weidman said during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. “I’ve been poked in the eye in sparring bad. Like, knuckle deep. That’s completely different. None of these shots were that bad.
“If we’re going to which one penetrated the most, the thumb into my eyeball was definitely the worst, as far as penetration goes.”
Weidman downplayed the damage he sustained during the interview but later revealed on social media that his left eye was brutally bloodshot, earning comparisons to The Terminator.
Chris Weidman shares a photo of his eye a couple days after his fight with Bruno Silva 😬
He claims it was caused by an eye poke.
(via. @arielhelwani #TheMMAHour, H/T @LaSueur_off) pic.twitter.com/EvvlPWuVXp
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) April 3, 2024
Chris Weidman is Open to a Rematch with Bruno Silva
Chris Weidman continues to stand by his victory over Silva as a legitimate win despite the surrounding controversy, but if the UFC feels that a rematch is called for, he will gladly sign on the dotted line.
“If the UFC wants to have a rematch of this fight, sure,” Weidman said. “But I would happily move on, too. It’s not like I’m scared of him or anything like that. I felt like everything he had, I feel like I would only just get better. Whatever.
“If they want to do a rematch, that’s fine, too. I’m open to that. My heart goes out to Bruno Silva. He was very frustrated. It sucks, but he fought me for 13 minutes, and he was losing the fight. If they want to do a rematch, sure.”
Check out Weidman’s full appearance on The MMA Hour below:
