Or at least retiring from the UFC in my opinion. Weidman was one of those guys that quickly rose to the top and just completely fell apart with a mix of bad fight strategies and of course injury.
One of the moments of all time MMA that sticks out in my mind was the shocking victory that Chris had over "The Spider" Silva all those years ago and much like most people watching who are not from South America, I was really happy that he did win that fight.
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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. I was celebrating his victory over Silva because I really don't like it when any fighter in any form of martial arts becomes too cocky and Silva had long been that way at the point where he faced Weidman. Instead of just defeating his opponents he had become so arrogant in his dominance that he would clown around during his fights often completely leaving his guard down and counter-striking after dodging a strike. The first punch that wobbled Silva I thought like most people that Spider was simply clowning yet again to get Chris to close distance for some sort of shocking head kick or something like that, only to have the wobble be real and for him to hit the canvas shortly thereafter.
The rematch is something that will live in infamy as well because while Silva was heavily favored to take his title back, no one could foresee that he would turn his own leg into a noodle with a strong botched leg kick. That was so gruesome that I won't even post a pic of it. When I was watching it live it was so gruesome that they only did the replay one time on air because I think even the UFC knew that this was a bit too much to put on a broadcast.
Unfortunately for Silva and so many other new champions over the years, things quickly started to go downhill for him after that victory. He was one of those champs like Sean Strickland, who was more of a sacrificial lamb than a real competitor and no one was really expecting him to ever win, let alone retain the championship via a freak accidental injury.
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Although he would successfully win his next 3 fights, mostly against kind of washed up yet famous fighters in Machida and Belfort, but then he would begin a less-than-stellar run of mostly losses starting in late 2015 and while he would pull off a win here and there, normally against some nobody like Omari Akhmedov, his performance in the Octagon simply wasn't at the level that we would expect against the man who beat someone twice that virtually nobody was capable of ever beating.
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Then of course there was the time where he ironically and brutally suffered nearly the exact same injury that Anderson Silva did against him. Who the hell could have seen that coming?
UFC has apparently lost interest in pushing him as well, probably due to the fact that he isn't really the showstopper that they had expected him to be. He has an upcoming fight on March 30th against Bruno Silva, who is also underperforming in the UFC. This is a Fight Night, which IMO is where UFC sends all their oldies to fade away into obscurity.
Weidman can see the writing on the wall about how his retirement, if he doesn't choose it, will be chosen for him soon because he simply isn't a draw and UFC will only hang on to someone who is famous for something that happened 10 years ago for so long before they send them out to pasture. He said that the only reason why he took this fight on such short notice is because it is taking place in Atlantic City and this is where he considers himself to have gotten his start. He likely wants to perform in front of a sort of "hometown crowd" and if he wins in glorious fashion it will be a great feeling for him to have the fans behind him once again. Win or lose though, I expect a retirement from "The All American." I suspect that this venue was chosen not necessarily because he wants accolades for a great performance in front of the people that are most likely to support him but because he wants to go out in style.
I think he should retire before his legacy gets even more destroyed than it already is. It's tragic to see someone accomplish so much and then slowly but surely fade away into obscurity. I don't think he should hang up his gloves entirely though and it might be wise for him to pursue moving over to PFL instead. Over there he could shine and perhaps help grow the brand whereas he really has no choice but to remain a mid-carder in UFC getting rather lackluster payouts until they get tired of him.
I think it is time for him to go. What do you think?
Nothing worse than seeing a shocking leg break and it turns my stomach every time I see one. I watched someone break my ankle and couldn't do anything about it as I was pinned down at the bottom of a maul whilst playing rugby. I think fighters staying past their sell by date is not only irresponsible by the people running the sport, but by the fighters themselves.
There aren't many fighters out there that once they are being honest are glad that they stayed involved in the sport. In fact, most of the fighters are saying that they are upset with themselves for ever getting involved. I don't recall who it was but it was some mid-card guy who was urging youth to not consider MMA a career option because or every McGregor getting massive paydays, there are 1000 people like him who barely make a living and have to deal with a lifetime of nagging injury because of it.
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.
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