Chris Weidman defends his victory over Bruno Silva at UFC Atlantic City, despite accidental eye pokes that played a part in the fight, stating that he won all three rounds according to the judges’ scorecards and believes Silva’s reaction to the eye pokes cost him the fight.
Chris Weidman’s recent UFC Atlantic City fight with Bruno Silva was marred by eye pokes. Weidman, however, doesn’t believe these incidents diminish his victory.
He insists, “I feel like it’s a legitimate win.” He shared this on The MMA Hour, a popular show. He won all three rounds, according to the judges’ scorecards.
But was it the win he wanted? “Hell no,” he says. He didn’t want to poke Silva in the eyes. It’s something he’s never done before.
In this fight, though, it happened. Twice, then a one-two eye poke, as people are saying. “It’s just unfortunate,” he admits.
In the third round, Weidman seemed to hit Silva with a punch that floored him. He then followed Silva to the ground. He unleashed a flurry of strikes, leading to a stoppage. This gave him his first win in nearly four years.
After the fight, replays showed Weidman accidentally poking Silva in both eyes. This caused Silva to fall to the ground in pain, before the punches ended his night. Ringside officials reviewed the footage. They used the scorecards to determine the outcome: Weidman won all three rounds.
At the post-fight press conference, Weidman shared his thoughts. He said Silva made a mistake by falling to the ground and covering up after the eye poke. This led to a finish rather than a pause for recovery.
Weidman took responsibility for the accidental foul. Still, he doesn’t think the eye pokes were severe. He believes Silva’s overreaction cost him the fight.
“I’m sorry that happened,” Weidman said. He feels bad about how it ended. But he argues that he got the most devastating eye poke. He didn’t drop to the mat or ask for time. He believes all eye pokes aren’t created equal.
Weidman doesn’t claim to know exactly how Silva felt. But he insists that his first two eye pokes barely touched Silva’s eye. Even the last one, he says, went underneath Silva’s eye, not into his eyeball.
Weidman compared the situation to coaching his kids in wrestling. “You’re going to get poked in the eye,” he said. “You can’t just drop to the ground and expect the ref to know what’s going on in your head.”
Weidman knows eye pokes hurt. He has a gnarly looking eye himself after the fight. But he doesn’t buy Silva’s reaction.
“What are we turning this into?” he questioned. He believes MMA is a tough sport. Fighters should let the ref know they got poked in the eye, but not drop and ask for time.
Weidman doesn’t put any asterisks next to his win. But if the UFC wants a rematch with Silva, he’s game.
“If the UFC wants to have a rematch of this fight, sure,” he said. He’d happily move on, too. He’s not scared of Silva. He feels he could only get better.
“If they want to do a rematch, that’s fine, too,” he said. His heart goes out to Silva. He knows Silva was frustrated. “It sucks, but he fought me 13 minutes, and he was losing the fight.”