Chris Weidman reveals he would’ve retired had Bruno Silva beat him at UFC Atlantic City: “I was gonna put my gloves down”

Chris Weidman says he would have retired from MMA had he lost to Bruno Silva at UFC Atlantic City.

Weidman was coming off a decision loss to Brad Tavares last August in his first fight back since broke his leg. After his last fight, Dana White said he wanted to see the former middleweight champion retire. However, Weidman got one more fight against Silva, and on fight week, he shot down retirement rumors as he said he felt good.

Chris Weidman ended up winning the fight by decision to return to the win column. With Weidman getting his hand raised, he will continue his career, but speaking on The MMA Hour he revealed he would have retired had he lost.

“Yeah, I think I probably would have retired if I didn’t perform out there. If he came at me and beat the crap out of me, I think I was gonna put my gloves down. I didn’t really tell my wife or anybody that, but in the back of my head,” Chris Weidman said. “All my training partners, my coaches, they think I’m better than ever, they can’t believe how good I am, they think I could become one of the best guys in the world again. But, in my head, I’m like man, I’ve done everything already, I know my potential and I know what they see and I know could be in there with anybody. But, if I’m not able to put it together in the UFC in the cage in front of everybody then I’m not going to do it anymore. So, if I didn’t perform well I think I was done.”

Weidman ended up getting the win and performing well, so he has confidence he can go on another run to the middleweight title.

With the victory over Bruno Silva, Weidman is now 16-7 as a pro and 12-7 in the UFC.