UFC legend Chris Weidman has called it a day after a legendary career ended with another stoppage defeat last month.
The New Yorker is a former middleweight champion who famously stopped Anderson Silva twice to put an end to his iconic run at the top of the division. However, after defending his belt aganst Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort, he was relieved of the title by Luke Rockhold.
From there, he struggled to cobble together a set of wins, only picking up three victories in nine years and never going on a streak again. He most recently was defeated by Eryk Anders at UFC 310 after their bout was rescheduled from a month prior.
🚨 Chris Weidman officially announces his retirement from MMA on the #UFC311 weigh-in show
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) January 17, 2025
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Chris Weidman announces UFC retirement
During the weigh-in show for UFC 311 on Friday evening, Chris Weidman was part of a broadcast team that also included Laura Sanko and fellow legend Daniel Cormier. And during the late stages after the shock announcement of a new main event, he gave his own surprising update.
“Since I decided to get into this sport, since 2009, the goal was to be a UFC fighter,” he told his fellow broadcast team members. :Then immediately, the goal was to be a UFC champion. 14 years later, I’m here to tell you that I’m hanging up the gloves in the UFC.
“I no longer am going to be fighting in the organization that changed my life in so many ways. I’m just super appreciative to everybody that got me here so that’s the breaking news. I just want to thank the UFC for all the opportunities they have given me.
“It’s really become a family from the Fertitta brothers to Dana White to Hunter Campbell, Joe Silva the matchmaker who brought me in originally, Mick Maynard and all the staff. They’re all just like family, amazing people but it’s time to move on.
“I want to thank my family for supporting me throughout all these years through the ups and downs. My coaches Ray Longo, Matt Serra, all the guys from when I moved down to the Carolinas, and all my training partners.”
Chris Weidman lost his last fight to Eryk Anders
The final night of Weidman’s career did not go his way as he was stopped by Eryk Anders at UFC 310 in Las Vegas. He didn’t lay the gloves down on the night, but has also notably not made a statement on his fighting future to this point.
Despite a victory in his most recent fight ahead of UFC 310, Weidman looked every bit of 40 years old inside the Octagon. With 10 seconds left in Round 2, the referee stepped in to save Weidman from suffering additional damage from his back and waved off the fight.
Weidman’s initial protest of the stoppage wasn’t agreed upon on social media. After the loss, fans and pundits took to Twitter in attempts to encourage Weidman to hang up the gloves.