Chris Weidman tried to break up Cyborg-Magana fight, quickly thought better of it

Chris Weidman gives an amusing firsthand account of the incident between Cris Cyborg and Angela Magana back in May.

Back at the UFC Athlete Retreat in May, there was a very highly-publicized incident between featherweight Cris Cyborg and strawweight Angela Magana. The outspoken Magana had been posting unflattering things about Cyborg on social media for a while, and when Cyborg saw her at the retreat she gave her a piece of her mind. This led to a punch getting thrown, and eventually Cyborg was cited for misdemeanor battery.

The whole fracas has been talked about a lot already, but one person that has a very unique viewpoint on things is former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman. He was right behind Magana as they came off the bus and into Cyborg’s fury. Weidman even (briefly) tried to break things up, which ended up being pretty funny.

As an in-studio guest on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Weidman gave his firsthand description of the events that led up to the incident (via MMA Fighting):

“When we got off the bus, that girl, Magana, was right in front of me. As I come off the bus, all I see is Cyborg run up to Magana’s face and they’re having words. I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t know if there was any beef. … I don’t follow (Magana) on Twitter so I didn’t realize what she was saying.

“Basically, Cyborg was going nuts on her, like all the words you can think of. She was screaming ‘Who the f—k do you think you are?’ and talking like this and blah, blah, blah.

“Magana was kind of quiet and shocked. She was kind of smiling, like a nervous smile. I was thinking, ‘Oh my God’ because she’s way smaller than Cyborg.”

Then things start to change as Magana decides to chirp back.

“All of sudden (Magana) realizes what’s going on around her,” Weidman said. “She sees that there are a lot of people around and she sees cameras coming out. She grew some balls and all of sudden she starts cursing back at Cyborg. I was thinking, ‘That’s not smart.’”

This is where Weidman decided that he needed to step in and break the two ladies up. But that didn’t exactly go as he expected:

“I came in like, ‘C’mon, guys, let’s calm it down,’ and as soon (as I did that) Cyborg just stops screaming at Magana, looks at me and says, ‘Don’t touch me.’

“I was like, ‘Alright, I’m good!’”

Right after he backed away, Cyborg hit her according to Weidman. He said that Magana got “teary-eyed” and started talking about calling the police.

At first, Weidman thought Cyborg was in the wrong for her actions because he had no idea about Magana’s social media exploits in her direction. Once he was made aware of it, his opinion changed a little bit:

“If someone was talking s—t like that about me, I’d probably have something to say to them the next time I see them and we could probably be fighting. I do see where Cyborg went with that.

“Unfortunately, in the world we live in today there are cops and lawsuits, so you can’t just punch people. You have to find other ways to resolve your issues.”

He then added a hilarious footnote to the story, which doesn’t shed him in the best light. Weidman is pretty good-natured about the whole thing though in telling the story:

“The best part of it is, Dana White has the video,” Weidman said. “He showed me at this thing (we did), but I don’t know if he’s ever going to release it. It is hysterical the way I backtracked.

“They were busting my balls but I have no shame. What am I going to do, step in there to Cyborg and say, ‘No, I will touch you’ and she kicks my ass? What am I gonna do kick her ass? Either way, I’m screwed.

“What if she knocked me out? I may as well just retire then.”

Chris Weidman gives an amusing firsthand account of the incident between Cris Cyborg and Angela Magana back in May.

Back at the UFC Athlete Retreat in May, there was a very highly-publicized incident between featherweight Cris Cyborg and strawweight Angela Magana. The outspoken Magana had been posting unflattering things about Cyborg on social media for a while, and when Cyborg saw her at the retreat she gave her a piece of her mind. This led to a punch getting thrown, and eventually Cyborg was cited for misdemeanor battery.

The whole fracas has been talked about a lot already, but one person that has a very unique viewpoint on things is former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman. He was right behind Magana as they came off the bus and into Cyborg’s fury. Weidman even (briefly) tried to break things up, which ended up being pretty funny.

As an in-studio guest on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Weidman gave his firsthand description of the events that led up to the incident (via MMA Fighting):

“When we got off the bus, that girl, Magana, was right in front of me. As I come off the bus, all I see is Cyborg run up to Magana’s face and they’re having words. I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t know if there was any beef. … I don’t follow (Magana) on Twitter so I didn’t realize what she was saying.

“Basically, Cyborg was going nuts on her, like all the words you can think of. She was screaming ‘Who the f—k do you think you are?’ and talking like this and blah, blah, blah.

“Magana was kind of quiet and shocked. She was kind of smiling, like a nervous smile. I was thinking, ‘Oh my God’ because she’s way smaller than Cyborg.”

Then things start to change as Magana decides to chirp back.

“All of sudden (Magana) realizes what’s going on around her,” Weidman said. “She sees that there are a lot of people around and she sees cameras coming out. She grew some balls and all of sudden she starts cursing back at Cyborg. I was thinking, ‘That’s not smart.’”

This is where Weidman decided that he needed to step in and break the two ladies up. But that didn’t exactly go as he expected:

“I came in like, ‘C’mon, guys, let’s calm it down,’ and as soon (as I did that) Cyborg just stops screaming at Magana, looks at me and says, ‘Don’t touch me.’

“I was like, ‘Alright, I’m good!’”

Right after he backed away, Cyborg hit her according to Weidman. He said that Magana got “teary-eyed” and started talking about calling the police.

At first, Weidman thought Cyborg was in the wrong for her actions because he had no idea about Magana’s social media exploits in her direction. Once he was made aware of it, his opinion changed a little bit:

“If someone was talking s—t like that about me, I’d probably have something to say to them the next time I see them and we could probably be fighting. I do see where Cyborg went with that.

“Unfortunately, in the world we live in today there are cops and lawsuits, so you can’t just punch people. You have to find other ways to resolve your issues.”

He then added a hilarious footnote to the story, which doesn’t shed him in the best light. Weidman is pretty good-natured about the whole thing though in telling the story:

“The best part of it is, Dana White has the video,” Weidman said. “He showed me at this thing (we did), but I don’t know if he’s ever going to release it. It is hysterical the way I backtracked.

“They were busting my balls but I have no shame. What am I going to do, step in there to Cyborg and say, ‘No, I will touch you’ and she kicks my ass? What am I gonna do kick her ass? Either way, I’m screwed.

“What if she knocked me out? I may as well just retire then.”