Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight champion Chris Weidman suffered a third-round knockout loss to Ronaldo Souza last month at UFC 230 in New York, which forced New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) to bench “All American” for 90 days.
But it seems Chris will be out of action much longer, as he revealed during a recent interview on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show he suffered a neck injury after “Jacare” clipped him with a hard right hand to put an end to his night.
“I hurt my neck a little bit. I’m guessing it was in the fight because my neck had been feeling amazing. I guess when he hit me my neck got a little beat up. It hurt a little bit after the fight,” he said.
Jokingly (or not), Weidman says his injury was further aggravated after sleeping in his bed with a pillow not suitable for an adult.
“Then about five days later, my little guy Colton was crying and my wife asked me to go see and I went to go lay with him. She keeps getting mad at me for blaming him for my hurt neck,” laughed Chris. “ So I was laying with him, and he has this crappy pillow, and I have this nice pillow,” he said.
“Next thing I know my neck is all jacked up, I’m turning both directions trying to crack it and stretch it. And my neck just started killing me. So I have a herniation in my neck, basically. It’s been a little annoying. It’s all Colton’s fault, nothing to do with the MMA fight,” said Chris in a joking manner.
Still, “All American’s” injury is no laughing matter as he says he will now focus on getting his neck better before he considers jumping back into action, revealing that UFC did ask him to fight at the upcoming UFC on ESPN event in Brooklyn on January 19, 2019 but had to decline.
When he does return, Chris says he won’t rule out a jump up to Light Heavyweight, but maintains his sole focus is on winning the 185-pound title once again. Perhaps starting with facing the loser of this fight.
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