It's hard to believe that this fight that shocked the world happened nearly 10 years ago but that is how long it has been.
It certainly is wild that this was a decade ago. I agree with you about Weidman needing to retire. The shelf-life of an MMA fighter is short. If they're lucky they'll have a few years of dominance before they decline. But he and Silva were both entertaining when they were on top.
I suppose his next fight will be a real tell. To me, since he is announcing this before he even gets into the octagon kind of suggests that he may have already given up mentally and expects to lose.
I haven't followed UFC since around the time Weidman was the champion tbh. I just lost interest in the marketing machine that it turned into. But, after he defeated Silva, I thought he could be one of the greats. He had the wrestling, the striking, the movement. But there's something about that kind of break you just don't recover from psychologically. Can you imagine looking down at your leg that's been turned into a nunchuck, and thinking why did I choose this career path?
I would imagine that it is really tough for anyone to come back from that sort of injury. It would always be on your mind the tremendous pain and difficult recovery time every time you so much as sparred with anyone. I've been quite fortunate in my life but to this day I still think about the ankle that I broke and will take it easy on that leg anytime I do anything. Just because they are elite athletes doesn't mean they dont feel the same way.