Chris Weidman has opened up about the horrific leg break he suffered at UFC 261 against Uriah Hall.
Weidman broke his leg after throwing a kick against Hall just 17-seconds into their fight at UFC 261 last weekend. The former middleweight champion said paramedics were struggling to find a pulse in his foot whilst being transported to the hospital and that’s when he began to fear the worst.
“Honestly, I remember thinking even if they have to cut off my leg and give me a prosthetic leg, I’ll be able to still do things with my kids,” Weidman said on Instagram (HT: MMA Fighting). “I started thinking of positive things out of the whole thing.”
“I’ve had 23 surgeries in my life. I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs but I will say this is the most traumatic and most painful thing I’ve ever been through. I know it’s going to take a long time. It’s really tough for me.”
Originally, Weidman thought the kick had hurt Hall and his opponent was pulling a good poker face to disguise the pain. It was only until Weidman put his foot back down on the canvas that he would realise the extent of his injury.
“As I put my foot down, I don’t remember putting my foot down and feeling any of the pain or anything like that cause I was still focused on letting him know that I was good. I guess as my leg snapped underneath me, I happened to look down and when I see my leg look like rubber, that’s when I think I just went into a crazy, weird spot. I went face down and it was like a nightmare. In my head I’m like there’s no way that was my leg. There’s no way I was just looking at my leg and my leg was looking like that.”
After having a titanium rod placed in his leg during surgery, Weidman is confident he can make a full recovery to eventually fight again.
