Chris Weidman is not ready to back down from his recent setbacks.
Despite being stopped in five of his past six fights, most recently a first-round knockout loss to Dominick Reyes, Weidman (14-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) reiterated he has no plans of retiring. In fact, he’s looking to make a quick turnaround and hopes to compete in early 2020.
“In a perfect world – I mean, I’m healthy already – February, March, something like that,” Weidman said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. “Yeah pretty quick. Listen, I know it sounds crazy: ‘You just got knocked out, what are you coming back quick for?’ But it wasn’t like I got knocked out cold. Literally, like, legs went out from underneath me, he was hitting me with shots, and I remember the whole thing. I had no concussion symptoms like I’ve had concussion symptoms over the years from some of my fights. And you know when your brain needs a rest. This time, it wasn’t that situation at all.”
Weidman, a former UFC middleweight champion, failed to make good on his light heavyweight debut against Reyes in October, and admitted he’s not sure if he’ll remain at 205 or go back down 185 pounds.
“I could make (1)85 again,” he said. “205 was fun. It was less stressful, and I feel like I could beat anybody up , but we’ve just got to look at the divisions and figure it out. So I’m not sure if I’m going to go back down to ’85 or stay at 205.”
With an array of accolades on his resume, the man who once shocked the world by dethroning one of the greatest fighters of all time in Anderson Silva still believes he has some magic left in him.
And he’s not ready to walk away just yet.
“(I’m) definitely continuing to fight – that’s not a question at all,” Weidman said. “I feel great. You know, I’ve been through (expletive) in this career. At the end of the day, when I do retire, I know I gave everything to this sport. I gave everything to the sport of wrestling. I’ve been through hell. From my body, I’ve had 23 surgeries – but I feel good right now. That sounds crazy, but I feel really good. My body feels good. The fact that I could get right back to training and do what I love to do, I just feel like I’m still capable of some big things.”
Former UFC champ Chris Weidman wants quick turnaround, thinks he's still capable of big things
