Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman has been taking things one day at a time since shattering his leg in 2021. The 40-year-old fighter hasn’t been in the cage since his victory over Bruna Silva in March.
Although the 40-year-old fighter refuses the retire, he says he doesn’t plan on looking to much into his future in the sports. In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Weidman spoke about his return since his last injury and recent fight.
“Honestly, I’m still taking it fight by fight to see how I feel, to see how I perform,” Weidman told MMA Fighting. “Right now in the gym,, my body, I feel good, and I’m doing great in the gym, but I’ve got to be able to perform under the lights.
“So that’s all just fight to fight at this point at my age and everything. We’ll see how I feel and we’ll just play it from there.”
“I’m pretty much taking it fight by fight,” Weidman said. “I’ll make my decision after the fight. I’m not planning on putting my gloves down or anything like that. Either win or lose. But I’m planning to just not make any rushed decisions.
“Right now, I still feel great. I’m excited. I love training. I love being in camps. And, I love just the whole discipline of it and how it keeps you on routine. It’s really addictive. I’m super competitive so it’s just like the ultimate best thing for me to be doing. But obviously you can’t do it forever. So that’s why I’ve got to take it fight by fight and kind of just weigh the pros and cons of everything and see where we’re at.”
The fighter made a quick recovery after his broken leg injury and was soon back in the cage in 2023. The fighter stepped into the cage with so much momentum that he kept applying pressure on the injured foot. Luckily for him, he only sustained an injury on the opposite foot, but he fully recovered before his next match.
Since then, the fighter has been constantly training as he prepares to face Eryk Anders at UFC 309. Weidlma revealed that his injured foot is still something he considers whenever he’s training and fighting. The 40-year-old understands that he is aging and that his body is not what it used to be years ago.
“With MMA, I still feel great, I still feel fine on the mats,” Weidman explained. “I don’t feel 40 year years old, all these surgeries, I still feel great. I’m going with these younger guys and doing as good as usual. As good as I ever have. But when it comes to other sports, I feel like I slowed down. Sports specifically for MMA, my body has adjusted and I know I’ve got situations to stay away from that would hurt me. I’ve been able to be dominant in those positions that I’m going into. But I played baseball the other day with my son. Both my kids are on these travel baseball teams.
“We had to see who could throw harder so they had the gun out so they could measure the speed. And I was never the fastest thrower, but my 12-year-old son is not going to beat me on the speedometer thing. He beat me badly. He threw a 62, I threw a 51, and my shoulder hurt, and I felt terrible. Like two pitches, and I’m done. It was awful.
“Then we got to switch it around, and your kid got to pitch to you to see if he could strike you out as if it was a real game, you’ve got the balls and everything going, an umpire. He struck me out and I’m telling you 10 years ago, I will say I really believe that would not have happened. I think I would throw harder, and I think I’m hitting the ball off of him. The age definitely, I felt old doing that. But when I’m in the MMA gym, I still feel good.”
Weidman understands that his body is constantly undergoing changes, and he has to adjust to the times. He says retirement is not in the books yet, but he isn’t deluding himself. He understands that the trauma he has experienced over the years may affect his future performance.
“It’s something I’ve got to make sure I warm up and I’m on top of and I’m strengthening and all that stuff forever,” Weidman said. “For the rest of my life.
“This leg had now 14 surgeries on it. I’ve had 14 surgeries just on this one leg and 30 surgeries overall throughout my body. So I’ve got lots of things I’ve got to think about.”
