Chris Weidman Announces End to UFC Run, Leaves Door Open to Future Fights
By FCF Staff
After fighting under the UFC’s banner since 2011, Chris Weidman has announced that he’s hanging up the organization’s gloves. The 40-year-old fighter, however, stopped short of announcing he will not fight again.
The former middleweight champ was stopped by Eryk Anders at UFC 310 in December, which was Weidman’s third defeat in his last four fights. Following that loss, there was speculation as to whether the 40-year-old fighter would walk away from fighting.
During the weigh-in show for UFC 311, Weidman announced that his run with the UFC has come to an end (quote via MMA Junkie.com).
“Since I decided to get into this sport, since 2009, the goal was to be a UFC fighter. Then immediately, the goal was to be a UFC champion. Fourteen years later, I’m here to tell you that I’m hanging up the gloves in the UFC. I no longer will be fighting in the organization that changed my life in so many ways.”
The New York fighter also had this to say about his future:
“… I’m opening up a new chapter in my life, and I’m excited about the future,. I’m leaving the door open for big opportunities out there. But we’re moving on to see my life develop in different ways.”
Weidman (16-8) won his first 13 pro bouts before he was defeated for the first time in December, 2015, by Luke Rockhold. The decorated wrestler became a household name in 2013, by ending the historic middleweight reign of Anderson Silva, who he knocked out at UFC 168.