“Chris, I love you. Please, please retire.”
That was UFC President Dana White’s plea to former middleweight champion Chris Weidman (15-7) following his unanimous decision loss to Brad Tavares (20-8) at UFC 292 on Saturday.
But as much as his boss would like to see him call it a career, the 39-year-old middleweight insists that he has no plans of hanging up the gloves just yet, especially after a performance that he felt particularly encouraged by.
What a moment for Chris Weidman!
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) August 20, 2023
@ChrisWeidman with a hero's welcome as he makes his return to the Octagon from devastating injury! #UFC292 pic.twitter.com/MgoWEuGN3H
“I’m not done,” Weidman told reporters during the UFC 292 post-fight news conference. “I’ll be back better than ever, but this was a good opportunity for me to get back in the Octagon.”
Saturday’s loss was the seventh in the last nine fights for Weidman, who was coming back from a more than two-year layoff following a gruesome leg injury suffered against Uriah Hall at UFC 261 in April 2021—the effects of which showed during Round 1 when Weidman seemed a bit hesitant to throw much offense Tavares’ way.
Weidman settled in a bit in the second round, but Tavares went with a leg kick-heavy attack, which slowed the former champion down and hindered his ability to move in and out of exchanges.
“There was hesitancy; there was probably a little bit of ring rust,” Weidman added. “…I can’t believe he leg kicked me. When he started leg kicking me, I was like, ‘You ba---rd. You’re such a nice dude, why are you freaking leg kicking me?’ Then when he kicked my [surgically repaired] leg, that’s kind of what p---ed me off.”
When the fight was over, Weidman had a noticeable limp and White and others speculated that Tavares’ kicks blew out one of his knees.
Chris Weidman struggled to walk out of the cage and Brad Tavares immediately came over and helped him walk to his family #ufc292 pic.twitter.com/gLFTHj8XD2
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) August 20, 2023
After starting his career 13-0 with two wins over former pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva (34-11-1), which snapped his 17-fight win streak that spanned more than six years, Weidman hit a rough patch.
He lost his 185-pound belt via fourth-round TKO to Luke Rockhold (16-6) in December 2015, and he lost four of his next five fights by knockout or TKO. His only wins over the last eight years come against Kelvin Gastelum (17-8-1) in 2017 and Omari Akhmedov (24-8-1) in 2020.
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