Not much scares former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman.
But his upcoming neck surgery planned for Wednesday is a different beast entirely.
Weidman was forced out of Saturday’s UFC 199 rematch with Luke Rockhold for the title due to herniated discs that he will have worked on next week.
“I’ve had so many surgeries, but this one kind of skeeves me out” Weidman told Newsday. “My neck. Going in through the front my neck, it just bothers me. When I had the epidural, I was miserable, man. They went through my back and I could hear this thick needle going through my muscle. This whole neck thing is bothering me. I can’t believe I’m getting neck surgery.”
The surgery will be performed in Manhattan at Columbia University Medical Center.
Weidman described the pain from his neck by saying “it just took everything out of me.”
As for a potential return to action, Weidman is looking at lower-body strength and conditioning right away, followed by upper-body workouts after four weeks. If the surgery is not successful, a different one will take place to fix his neck.