Weidman Update: ‘I Was Actually In The Gym Today’

Chris Weidman’s recovery process is going so well that he’s already back in the gym.

The former UFC middleweight champion suffered a horrific leg injury back at UFC 261 this past April and continues to fight tooth-and-nail to regain his strength and one day make a return to the Octagon. It hasn’t been an easy road to travel, but Weidman seems to be making incredible progress.

Two weeks ago the UFC veteran released a video of him walking around his house without crutches. It doesn’t seem like a major deal, but it is. Weidman was finally holding his own weight up and putting pressure on the leg that had snapped just two months ago.

Now, Weidman is back in the gym and already training. He’s unable to do anything that would delay his recovery, but the former UFC champion is staying loose with some boxing drills and light sparring.

“It’s been pretty damn brutal, as you can imagine,” said Weidman during a recent appearance on Michael Bisping’s Believe You Me podcast,. “It completely sucks but I will say, this is breaking news, I was actually in the gym today. I boxed a little bit. I figured I was going to go to the gym and hit the bag for like a minute and then put my leg up, elevate it and just chill out, just be happy to be in the gym, but there were some guys around and we started play sparring and I was like, ‘Man, this is awesome!’ It felt so good to be back in the gym. So that was a big day for me, but it’s been a crazy road.”

Weidman, 36, has never suffered an injury quite like this. The MMA veteran has experienced some setbacks throughout his storied career, but nothing that has left him so debilitated. While Weidman could eventually one day fight his way back into the Octagon he’ll always have the scars to remind him of his worst injury ever.

“So that’s where we’re at right now,” Weidman said. “You see the rod going down that one bone, that’s my tibia bone. It’s still fractured right in half pretty much but there is some healing going on. That fibula bone, the one that looks completely like it’s not healed, that is still just moving back and forth. Apparently that’s going to create scar tissue and cartilage and the bone is going to bring it together. But with all that being said, I’m up on this leg every single day. It’s kind of crazy to me that really it’s just the rod holding my leg together.”

Eventually, Weidman is hoping that his leg completely heals, his training is able to return to form, and he can resume his fighting career like nothing ever happened. Obviously, that’s wishful thinking at this point in time, but that’s the type of hope the former champion needs. Other fighters have returned from this type of injury before, including Weidman’s former rival, Anderson Silva, so anything is possible moving forward.

“The big thing right now is getting ankle mobility back so I can bend my foot the right way and learn to walk without a limp and try to be on my feet as much as possible,” Weidman said. “The more I’m on my feet, the more weight-bearing, the more likely the bone is going to heal, so that’s why I’m really pushing it and doing more than what people expect because I know that if I push through the pain now that means there’s more blood getting to that area and the more likely it’s gonna heal…

“I’m trying to give myself the best shot of doing what I believe I can do. I felt so good before this last fight and I would hate to see it just wither away because of this. So I’m giving myself the best shot and we’ll see what happens. If I get back to the gym and my body’s telling me this is not an option than it’s not an option and I’ll figure it out, but I’m pretty confident I’ll be good.”