It’s hard not to feel for Chris Weidman.
Weidman is one of mixed martial arts’ good guys and was likely up on the scorecards going into the third and final round of his clash with Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza in the UFC 230 co-main event on Saturday night.
The former middleweight champion’s hands had never looked better but it turned out to be a familiar story for Weidman as he fell at the final hurdle and is now shockingly 1-4 in his last five outings.
Just like what happened against Yoel Romero at UFC 205, an apparent certain victory for Weidman in Madison Square Garden was ripped away from him by ‘Jacare’ this weekend in the third round.
There was a strange ending to proceedings as Souza was reluctant to take advantage of the damage he inflicted with a clipping right hand to Weidman’s temple.
Weidman fell to his back after being caught and appeared to be done, which left Souza hesitant to pour on an onslaught.
IT'S ALL OVER! 🐊
Jacare gets the KO win, and does the ref's job for him 👀
What a fight! What a war! #UFC230 pic.twitter.com/KlO3sIYNnf
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) November 4, 2018
The Brazilian looked towards referee Dan Miragliotta to encourage him to wave the fight off so that Weidman wouldn’t need to suffer any further damage but ‘Jacare’ was told to continue fighting .
All it took was three additional shots to convince the official that Weidman was not able to properly defend himself and the disapproving shake of the head from ‘Jacare’ let everyone know that he did no want to inflict any unnecessary damage to the hometown hero.
“It’s sports, man!” Souza said in his post-fight interview. “This is one of the hardest sports in the world and we need to respect each other.
“When me and Chris faced off, there was a lot of respect but inside the Octagon, it’s a war. I came to win and he came to win. It’s a real fight!”
