LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – AUGUST 08: (L-R) Chris Weidman punches Omari Akhmedov of Russia of their middleweight struggle throughout the UFC Struggle Evening occasion at UFC APEX on August 08, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Picture by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
“The All-American” is asking it a profession, as Chris Weidman introduced his retirement on Friday. Form of.
The previous UFC middleweight champion, coming off a loss to Eryk Anders at UFC 310 final month, introduced on the UFC 311 weigh-in present that he was finished combating, at the very least for the UFC.
“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,” Weidman acknowledged throughout Friday morning’s present. “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.”
Observe the verbiage. Weidman, who shocked the world by knockout out Anderson Silva in 2013 to assert the UFC’s 185lb title, is particularly finished with the UFC. He did, nonetheless, go away the door open to competing elsewhere.
“You’ve got to move on, so I’m opening up a new chapter in my life, and I’m excited about the future,” he later acknowledged. “I’m leaving the door open for big opportunities out there. But we’re moving on to see my life develop in different ways.”
A type of doorways may be the GFL. Coach Ray Longo, an in depth confidant of Weidman, was lately introduced as teaching the New York workforce of the GFL. Coincidentally, no supervisor was introduced for that workforce, which looks like a spot Weidman might slip into, protecting him concerned within the sport with out really combating.
Chris Weidman finishes his UFC profession with wins over Silva, Vitor Belfort, Kelvin Gastelum, Demian Maia and others.
