Former UFC Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman Announces Retirement
At 40 years of age, a Ultimate Fighting Championship great is deciding to hang up his gloves.
During the UFC 311 early weigh-in show on Friday, Chris Weidman (16-8) announced his retirement from the sport. “The All-American” last competed in December, coming up short to Eryk Anders in the second round when the former football player punched him out. While he struggled towards the end of his career, Weidman started strong by amassing a 13-0 record while beating many of the best names ever to compete at 185 pounds in the Octagon.
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It only took Weidman four fights to get on the radar of the promotion, rattling off four victories in Lou Neglia’s Ring of Combat promotion with three stoppages on the way, most notably dispatching future UFC fighter Uriah Hall in about three minutes. Weidman introduced himself to the organization in 2011 with a one-sided decision over Alessio Sakara, and he pushed himself quickly to contendership by submitting Jesse Bongfeldt and Tom Lawlor in the same year.
Weidman continued, “I’m super appreciative of everybody who got me
here…I just want to thank the UFC for all the opportunities they’ve
given me. It’s really become a family. From the Fertitta brothers
to Dana White to Hunter
Campbell, Joe Silva who was the matchmaker who brought me into
the UFC originally, Mick Maynard and all the staff in the UFC.
They’re all just like family, just amazing people. But, it’s time
to move on.”
Victories over Demian Maia and Mark Munoz—the latter Weidman’s first main event—put the still relatively green New Yorker into a title opportunity against Anderson Silva. The Brazilian was riding a UFC-record 16-fight win streak into the championship bout, and the wrestler was considered a talented test but expected to come up short. Weidman never received that script, and instead he walked Silva down and knocked him clean out in the second round at UFC 162 in 2013.
The inevitable rematch came a little over seven months later, where the match played out similar to the first until Silva hurled a leg kick at the American. At the perfect moment, Weidman checked the kick, and Silva’s leg snapped in half. It may not have been the way he wanted to win, but with two victories over the legendary “Spider,” Weidman had established himself as anything but a fluke. Two thrilling victories over Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort gave Weidman two more defenses to hang his hat on.
“I want to thank my family for supporting me throughout all these years, through the ups and the downs,” Weidman expressed. “My coaches, Ray Longo, Matt Serra, Jeff Jimmo when I moved down to the Carolinas. All my training partners, shoutout to Gian Villante who is my main training partner…but [there are] so many of them that helped me get to where I’m at. My life has changed in so many ways that I never would have expected if it wasn’t for the UFC, so I’m just super grateful. I want to thank the fans for their support over the years.”
After that triumph, a quick drubbing of “The Phenom” at UFC 187 in 2015, the halcyon days of Weidman’s career came to a painful end. When defending his throne against Luke Rockhold six-plus months after topping Belfort, a failed spinning kick resulted in the end of his night and the conclusion of his title reign. Following the Rockhold loss, the knockout defeats began to mount for “The All-American,” as a number of fighters were able to stop him with strikes. While he did pick up a few wins to keep himself on the roster, a broken leg against Hall—eerily hearkening back to his second triumph over Silva—put Weidman on the shelf for two years. While he tried to bounce back, and even got his hand raised against Bruno Silva, two losses in his last three were enough for the New Yorker to hang it up.
“It’s been a ride, from being an undefeated world champion and being able to beat one of the greatest of all time in Anderson Silva, and being able to defend my belt three times against some of the greatest legends of the sport. And then, even from the amount I’ve learned about myself and dealing with adversity and injuries—I’ve had 30 surgeries—I put my body through a lot. To be able to over come a lot of that was always tough, and I’m just proud that the UFC gave me an outlet to be able to compete against some of the best guys in the world. I’m proud of the resume, the type of guys I was able to fight, I respect them all so much. I’m very grateful, and it’s a weird one, I’ve been a UFC fighter, calling myself a UFC fighter since 2011, and today, I think for the first time, I can’t say that. And it’s weird, it’s kind of part of your identity, and you gotta move on and I’m opening up a new chapter of my life and I’m excited about the future, and I’m leaving the door open for other opportunities and big opportunities out here, but we’re moving on to see my life develop in different ways,” Weidman concluded.
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