Weidman Warns McGregor Of ‘Psychological Effect’ From Leg Break

Chris Weidman is once again on the comeback trail as the former UFC middleweight king tries to re-enter the UFC win column this weekend at UFC Atlantic City. “All American” will be taking on Bruno Silva on the ESPN main card and it will be just Weidman’s second fight back since breaking his leg against Uriah Hall in 2021.

It’s been a long road back to fighting for Weidman after his disastrous loss to Hall at UFC 261. Weidman snapped his leg in two after launching a leg kick that was checked by “Prime Time” in the very first round. Weidman needed over two years to return to action against Brad Tavares at UFC 292 in Aug. 2023. The former UFC champion may have lost that fight via unanimous decision, but one of the biggest takeaways from that contest was Weidman’s reluctance to throw leg kicks.

“I was surprised I was so hesitant to throw my right leg,” Weidman said. “Because usually when you’re getting kicked, you’ve got to kick back. My brain wouldn’t let my body just throw that damn kick. I actually tried. I tried so hard to throw it in the second round and it was like I babied it, I didn’t go all out. That was a tough one to get over.

“By the time I tried taking him down, my other leg was already broken, my good leg, because he fractured it, gave me a hairline fracture on my leg,” he added. “Probably in the first round or the beginning of the second, it’s hard to really tell when my leg went out, but either way my legs were not underneath me anymore. … Before you know it, by the second round, when I felt good, I had to fight southpaw and I had no drive behind me to get the takedowns. I was really compromised. I don’t think I fought a bad fight. I thought he fought a really smart, strategic fight and it kind of caught me off guard.”

While Weidman has already made his return from a career-threatening leg break, former UFC double champion Conor McGregor has not. “Notorious” suffered the same type of injury back in July 2021 and has been recovering ever since. McGregor has taken longer to get back into the Octagon given his business ventures outside of the cage, but he still hasn’t fought since breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.

Weidman was asked about McGregor’s injury and what advice he’d give to the former UFC champion. “All American” believes the biggest obstacle he encountered was the unwillingness to throw leg kicks in his return and implores McGregor to rewire his brain to make those decisions in real-time.

“I know he watched my fight,” Weidman said of McGregor. “I think he probably learned a lot watching my fight. Some of the red flags of what to be prepared for, for whoever he fights, and also maybe you’re not going to be able to throw [the kicks] back as much as you want. Or now, be prepared that could be something you have to deal with, so really train on kicking back.

“Because you want that to be second nature when you’re in there. For me, I thought I was good with that, but I wasn’t. I would have really worked at it more and realize there is a psychological effect when you break your leg in half like that. So you need to really get that habit back strong and focus on that. I don’t really think I need to say much. He should just watch my last fight and learn from that.”

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