My new favorite line in mixed martial arts (MMA) interviews these days would have to be, “I don’t want to make any excuses but…”
It’s almost as though these athletes believe that the disclaimer makes the contradiction acceptable. This kind of cognitive dissonance used to be reserved mainly for Brazilian fighters, who would blame something being lost in translation. But these days everybody is doing it.
The latest person is Chris Weidman, the former UFC middleweight champion who was thoroughly and completely trounced by Luke Rockhold in the co-main event of UFC 194 on Dec. 12, 2015.
According to a recent interview with AXS TV, Weidman says that although he deserved to lose that night he could beat Rockhold in a rematch.
“It wasn’t me in there. I had a lot of issues going on. I had a lot of things I was going through and it wasn’t my night, it was his night. He deserved to win that fight. But he’s a guy I’m just very capable of completely running through. I was at maybe 10 to 20 percent of me and I was still kicking his ass for a while in there.”
Wow, 10 to 20 percent. Is that like the remainder of 70 percent Hendricks?
But look, Weidman isn’t whining. Seriously. He isn’t. Look at me. This is my serious face.
“I don’t like to make excuses. I’ll just say this. It was the worst camp I ever had and a lot of things were going on. But what I felt in there was a weak guy who was ready to break before it all went downhill for me with the spinning back kick.”
Despite being battered and stopped in the fourth round, Weidman reiterated the loss was a blessing disguise because he’s now free to work on his mistakes and reach his full potential. The All American added he hasn’t been this excited about his career since before his Anderson Silva fights.
“I’ve got a guy borrowing my belt right now, Luke Rockhold, and I’d like to take that, beginning of summer, take it back from him. And then whoever’s next, whether he wants another shot and have a third fight in New York we could do that. If not it’ll be somebody else.”
Let’s hope Weidman brings his 90 percent to that fight. Thoughts about these excuses comments?