See what Chris Weidman had to say after his win over Bruno Silva was changed from a TKO to a technical decision over a double eyepoke in the final moments.
Chris Weidman earned his first win in nearly four years on Saturday night at UFC Atlantic City. It wasn’t pretty, and it was definitely controversial, but for now his victory over Bruno Silva stands as a unanimous technical decision win for “The All American”.
The big debate surrounding the fight hinges on a number of eye pokes, including a rare double-poke that sent Weidman’s opponent Bruno Silva to the canvas where Chris finished the fight with ground and pound. What was originally a TKO win would be reviewed and changed to a 30-27 technical decision for Weidman after the replay showed Silva taking a finger to each eye.
To Weidman, the pokes were unintentional and Silva’s decision to collapse was the deciding fact of the matter.
“I’ll never question a guy if he’s saying he got poked in the eye,” he said during the UFC Atlantic City post-fight press conference. “But you can’t just drop every time you feel something is touching your eyeball.”
“He poked me in the eye one time and I stood there and took it,” Chris Weidman added. “Unless the ref is going to say something, I don’t drop. I come from a wrestling background, and it’s a similar thing, you can’t look for the referee to help you. Sometimes they’re going to be against you, and you always have to be ready to defend yourself at all times.”
“He dropped again. I don’t know if he was looking for a way out, but you can’t just turn your back and fall to the ground every time your eye feels poked.”
The Chris Weidman win was just one fight out of several that featured some sort of controversy. To Chris, it’s just part of the sport.
“Did I want to poke him in the eye? No, I’m unhappy that I poked him in the eye,” Weidman said. “But when you’re fighting with these small gloves, they kind of just happen … It’s just unintentional crap that happens when you have small gloves on and you’ve got fingers extended in gloves. It’s unfortunate. Obviously, I’d rather a TKO, but I get it. I won all three rounds so I’ll take it.”