Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman is down, but he has no intention of calling it a career.
Weidman (15-6 MMA, 11-6 UFC) endured one of the most gruesome injuries ever suffered in the octagon when he snapped his right leg against Uriah Hall at UFC 261. He has since undergone surgery to have a titanium rod placed through his tibia.
It’ll be a while before Weidman can walk, let alone train, but he has every intention of fighting again. The 37-year-old is confident he has a lot more to give in the cage, which makes the injury layoff that much harder to deal with.
“It’s just so frustrating, and I know how much work it’s gonna take, but yeah, this is what I want,” Weidman told ESPN. “I just know how good I am, and I want to be able to prove it. I don’t have many more years left of being able to do that. My body never felt so good before this fight. I just can’t believe this happened. It just sucks. I was really excited to show the world how good I am, to put it out there, but this happened. So I just want an opportunity to go out there and do what I know I’m capable of while I still can.
“If I can get my body back to where I feel like I’m that guy again, I 100 percent want to fight. I want to be able to demonstrate the talents I have and put on a show and also be able to inspire other people. Coming back from this is not gonna be easy, and it’s way tougher of a recovery already the first 10 days than I could have ever imagined. So it’s gonna be a long, long road. I’m not gonna be able to walk for, I think, two months, put weight on it and stuff, so I am completely bedridden.”
Weidman, who plans to post recovery updates on his YouTube channel, says the fear of having his leg amputated crossed his mind. He’s having trouble with the nerves in his foot and hopes the start of physical therapy this week will help him get the feeling back.
“My foot still hasn’t had complete feeling come back yet, so the bottom of my foot and some of the toes are still almost like your foot fell asleep,” Weidman said. “There’s no telling with nerves how long they take to come back or if they ever come back.”
He continued, “It may never come back, so that’s not a good thing because I think I was talking to my surgeon or another doctor and they were saying for athletes, like the proprioceptors in your foot are super valuable obviously, so I need to get that feeling back in my foot. I could move my toes, I could feel they’re there, they’re just not normal. They’re still like sleeping. So I’m hoping that goes back.”
Chris Weidman plans to fight after ‘long, long road’ to recovery from broken leg is complete
