Chris Weidman’s lingering leg injury is better than ever leading up to UFC 309.
Weidman is scheduled to fight Eryk Anders at UFC 309 on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. This will be Weidman’s third outing since returning from a gruesome leg break he suffered against Uriah Hall at UFC 261 in 2021. Weidman’s shin snapped in half as Hall checked a leg kick, resulting in an immediate stoppage.
Weidman dropped a unanimous decision against Brad Tavares upon his return to the Octagon after a hiatus of over two years at UFC 292 last year. “The All-American” has since bounced back with a technical decision win over Bruno Silva, albeit a controversial one. Weidman was leading on the scorecards when multiple eye pokes from him rendered Silva unable to continue midway through the third round.
At 40 years of age, Weidman knows he is nearing retirement and is taking it one fight at a time. The former middleweight champ also had a great camp for UFC 309, with his injured leg feeling better than ever before.
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“Man. I’m 40 years old. I can’t do this much longer,” Weidman recently told ESPN. “I’m taking it fight by fight, to be honest. Because I just had to see how the body feels, you never know. This camp I felt great. There were some things that I worked around. But then it all came together. I feel great, got in great shape. And I feel kind of rejuvenated. There’s things that hold you back, but there’s always blessings in disguise. Like my leg that I’ve been struggling with for now almost four years, it feels so much better than it has. So I’m excited to be able to spring off my toes again because for a while that was difficult.”
Weidman is looking to bring his best version out at UFC 309 and believes he will have an easy night at the office if he does.
“I really want to go out there and put on a show… just be spectacular, the best version of myself,” he said. “And just do what I know I’m capable of and just completely decimate him… I think I can make it look real easy everywhere.”