Chris Weidman just suffered a major setback on his road to recovery.
The former UFC middleweight champion will require more surgery to repair the damage incurred against Uriah Hall as part of the UFC 261 pay-per-view (PPV) event back in April, a first-round leg break that put the “All American” out of action for more than a year.
Which certainly beats amputation.
“I’m actually getting another surgery,” Weidman told MMA Today on SiriusXM. “I’m getting another surgery most likely on Aug. 11. They’re going to have to plate the fibula bone because it’s considered a non-union, so the bones aren’t healing the way it’s supposed to, which kind of sucks. I did expect setbacks and issues with this type of traumatic injury, and I’ve been through a lot.”
Hopefully he wasn’t doing anything stupid … like this.
The 37 year-old ex-champ is hoping to make a full recovery and find his way back to combat sports in late 2022, following in the footsteps of fighters like Anderson Silva and Corey Hill, who suffered similar leg injuries late in their respective careers.
Blame their “feminine shins.”
“At the end of the day, I guess my mindset is: I’m just a positive person to begin with,” Weidman continued. “Not that I don’t have moments of negativity and laziness and lack of motivation, but I’m usually a glass half full type of person. I think that helps. If I ever feel bad for myself, it’s very easy to look at someone else who has it worse and realize you have nothing to complain about it and you shouldn’t feel sorry for yourself.”
Weidman (15-6) is just 2-5 since losing his 185-pound title to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194.