Chris Weidman is remaining in optimistic spirits after suffering the worst injury of his career.
At UFC 261, Weidman suffered not only the worst injury of his MMA career but one of the most gruesome injuries ever witnessed on a UFC broadcast. After throwing a leg kick to opponent Uriah Hall, Weidman broke his leg on impact, bringing an immediate and chilling close to the contest. Weidman would be carried off on a stretcher, with fans around the world hoping for a speedy recovery while also wondering if that could be the last image they’d ever see of Weidman in a UFC Octagon.
Weidman is not sitting around feeling sorry for himself, though, and is looking ahead to the future with the same wide eyes he had headed into his UFC fight against Hall. Weidman is certain that he still is at the top of his game and was more than prepared to demonstrate that to the world until fate intervened. He has recently suggested that his career is not over yet, and in an interview this week, he was more direct about his future plans (transcription via Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie).
“If I can get my body back to where I feel like I’m that guy again, I 100 percent want to fight,” Weidman told ESPN earlier this week. “I want to be able to demonstrate the talents I have and put on a show and also be able to inspire other people. Coming back from this is not gonna be easy, and it’s way tougher of a recovery already the first 10 days than I could have ever imagined. So it’s gonna be a long, long road. I’m not gonna be able to walk for, I think, two months, put weight on it and stuff, so I am completely bedridden.”
Weidman May Never Fully Recover From Injury
Though Weidman is optimistic, he is still painfully realistic as well. He is aware that he may not be able to return to his full capacity again, which could greatly blur his visions of the future.
“My foot still hasn’t had complete feeling come back yet, so the bottom of my foot and some of the toes are still almost like your foot fell asleep,” Weidman said. “There’s no telling with nerves how long they take to come back or if they ever come back.
“It may never come back,” he continued. “So that’s not a good thing because I think I was talking to my surgeon or another doctor and they were saying for athletes, like the proprioceptors in your foot are super valuable obviously, so I need to get that feeling back in my foot. I could move my toes, I could feel they’re there, they’re just not normal. They’re still like sleeping. So I’m hoping that goes back.”
Chris Weidman is a former UFC middleweight champion. He is perhaps best known for his two victories over Anderson Silva, who is widely regarded to be the greatest middleweight of all time. In what may be the most ironic occurrence in the history of our sport, one of those victories came in the same fashion as Weidman’s loss to Hall, with Silva breaking his leg after throwing a leg kick.
Hopefully, like Silva, Weidman is able to experience a recovery that allows him to once again make the walk to the Octagon and relive the thrill of having his hand raised in victory in front of an inspired audience.
We’ll keep you posted right here on MMANews.com on any major updates on Chris Weidman’s progress and his return timeline when that information is made available.