Nearing the end of his career, former middleweight champion Chris Weidman faces Bruno Silva on this weekend’s UFC fight card in Atlantic City.
Weidman won the 185-pound title be dethroning UFC Hall of Famer Anderson Silva at UFC 162 in July 2013. He successfully defended the title three times before losing to Luke Rockhold in December 2015. Since losing the belt, Weidman has struggled.
Those struggles were precipitated when he suffered a broken leg in his UFC 261 bout against Uriah Hall in April 2021. Ironically, Weidman suffered the same injury that Silva did in their rematch at UFC 168.
Heading into the fight with Hall, Weidman had lost five of his seven previous bouts. His recovery was marred with setbacks and he wouldn’t return to the octagon for over two years. In his return bout at UFC 292 in August 2023, Weidman was defeated by Brad Tavares.
Having lost seven of his last nine fights and unable to put together back-to-back wins in the last nine years, Weidman’s fight with Bruno Silva could be the last for the 39-year old.
“I’m undefeated in Atlantic City. That’s where I started my career. When I got the call, to be honest, I was like, oh man, that would be a really cool place to hang up the gloves,” Weidman said during an appearance on The MMA Hour.
“As I started training, I was like, let me see how my body feels. If I feel like I’m done I’ll be done, you know, 30 surgeries in and stuff. But I’ve been feeling amazing,” Weidman continued. “I am very cognizant that Atlantic City would be a cool place to hang up the gloves but I don’t see that happening, just to speak to the elephant in the room. I feel great right now and I’m ready for Atlantic City.”
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Weidman not only feels great, he’s in a good place mentally. His coaches believe that he could still be one of the best middleweights in the world.
“I think because physically I feel so good, mentally I feel really good. I’m excited to go out there. I feel great in training,” Weidman said. “Listen, I know what it sounds like and I get it, but the coaches think if I wanted to, if I have the energy to do it, I could be the best in the world again. And I do feel that way. Now, I’ve got to go put in the work. I’ve got to actually show that in the UFC, so we’ll see on Saturday night how I look but the way I feel is amazing.”
Silva will enter the octagon at Boardwalk Hall this Saturday coming off back-to-back losses. He’s 1-4 in his last five fights.
