Scarily enough, Chris Weidman told this story like it was a good thing.
The former UFC middleweight champion is now on a three-fight losing skid after he was controversially defeated by Gegard Mousasi at UFC 210, earlier this month.
Weidman’s management team are appealing the result as he had initially been told he could take five minutes to recover from illegal knees to the head while both of his hands were on the mat. As it transpired, replays showed that one of his hands were off the mat so the knees were legal.
However, in the State of New York, where the fight took place, video replays are not permitted. With doctors ruling Weidman unable to continue, his team feel the fight should have went down as a ‘No Contest’ rather than a Mousasi victory.
Worryingly, Weidman told The MMA Hour that he felt like he could continue. This is despite him admitting he probably did tell medical staff that he fight was taking place in February rather than April.
He went on to explain how he had successfully defended his middleweight strap against Lyoto Machida, in July 2014, without knowing much about it. Weidman said:
“I know me as a fighter, I could have continued 100%. I was definitely kneed in the head twice and was definitely a little out of it for a second.
“But in my Lyoto Machida fight, I don’t remember the fourth or fifth round at all. The fifth round I dominated him. He hit me with some good stuff in the fourth but the fourth and fifth, I was out.
“I was definitely out of it for that fight but I dominated him for the fifth round. So I think I would have went on to dominate Mousasi and finish him.”
The idea of a concussed Weidman battling on to defeat the dangerous Machida speaks a lot to the American’s heart and spirit but it is also extremely frightening.
While fight fans may have wanted his contest against Mousasi to continue, the fact that he was getting his dates wrong and was clearly rocked were enough for the medics to make a call. It takes some brave men and women to step in and call a fight over just as it is building to a crescendo.
One hopes tales like Weidman’s will soon be a thing of the past.
