"I'm excited to come back and shock the world" - Chris Weidman gives an update on when he'll make his UFC return
Chris Weidman has been out of action since a horrible leg break injury suffered in an April 2021 fight against Uriah Hall. The injury – a full tibia and fibula break similar to the one suffered by Conor McGregor – hasn't healed well. 'The All-American' was forced to undergo a second surgery in July 2021 because the bones weren't healing well.
Weidman hasn't given many updates regarding his progress since then, and it turns out that's because ESPN is making a documentary about his recovery. In a new interview with MMA Fighting, Weidman was asked how the last fifteen months had been. He replied:
"Pretty damn sucky. Very hard. Lots of ups and downs, a lot of issues. It just sucks, I can't put too much out there because I'm doing a documentary with ESPN, they're doing an E:60 ... I can't put anything out there because they have the rights to it, but they're going to tell the story in a great way. They're going to market it as the worst injury of all time and coming back from that."
"I'm excited to come back and shock the world and inspire people, really. I'm hoping this year, yeah."
Watch Chris Weidman discuss his UFC return below:
Weidman will have a tough time turning things around and shocking the world. The former middleweight champion went 2-5 over the past five years and simply looked a step too slow for the next generation of talent coming up in the UFC. And that was before he broke his leg in half.
Chris Weidman Breaks his leg in UFC in Loss to Urian Hall https://t.co/GgwjuJVfaV
Chris Weidman apologized to Anderson Silva after suffering the same leg injury
Not many UFC fighters have suffered complete leg breaks like Chris Weidman has. Conor McGregor did, as well as The Ultimate Fighter veteran Corey Hill. Anderson Silva actually broke his leg in the same way fighting Chris Weidman.
Reactions to the Chris Weidman leg break: https://t.co/WqbEonkh6J
Now that Weidman knows exactly what Silva went through with that injury, he felt much more empathetic towards the former middleweight champion. While speaking to Silva on his Won't Back Down podcast, Weidman said:
"I feel terrible now because I now I understand the pain that you went through, all the trials and tribulations that you went through, and it just makes me empathize with you so much more with those situations. To be honest, I've never even said this out loud but it's been on my mind since it happened. I want to apologize to you because afterwards, I felt terrible."
Watch Weidman and Silva talk about their leg injuries below: