There could be heard a collective gasp when Chris Weidman suffered his horrific injury in April 2021.
The moment seemed unreal and incredibly painful to the viewers, and Weidman confirmed it was just as painful as it looked.
“As soon as I broke my leg and I saw it, I go, ‘Holy crap!’ I saw the bones and everything,” Weidman said. “I just remembered Anderson Silva screaming in pain, like someone was murdering him. And I know this is going to suck and here comes – and as soon as I felt the pain kick in I was just begging people ‘Please!'” Weidman said on UFC Unfiltered.
“Now they’re moving my leg around. They’re trying to hold it into place as they get me on a stretcher and all this crap, and the bones are moving around. And the pain – I can’t even explain the pain. The pain was the worst thing I could ever imagine. I kept begging them to give me pain pills: ‘Give me something quick. Put me to sleep. Get me on painkillers. Knock me out. I cannot deal with this.’ This is not meant for human beings to deal with.”
Now two years removed from the graphic injury, Weidman updated fans on the rehab and the road ahead.
“I got a titanium rod through the middle of my shin bone – right through the whole (bone), from the top of my knee all the way down to the low part of my ankle to the bottom of the tibia,” he said. “On paper, I think I’m pretty good. For me to break my bone and then through the rod, I don’t think that’s going to happen. A compound fracture is not going to be happening. But you know what? My goal is to kick as hard as I possibly can, so maybe it does happen. I just want to defy the odds. Imagine that.”
And as far as how much longer until he feels ready, it seems like he’s almost there.
“I’m good. I’m pretty much there,” he said. “When I’m up on my toes and stuff like that and I start bouncing, I get like a little pain on the shin and stuff. But they’re saying that is just based on the quad and the calf need to get a little bit stronger still. When that happens, I’ll be good. I’m just doing physical therapy and still working on that.”
Weidman is looking at a Summer 2023 return to the Octagon.
Chris Weidman recounts foot injury that’s sidelined him from MMA for more than 2 years