Chris Weidman aiming for International Fight Week return two years after brutal leg break: “I just want to defy the odds”

Nearly two years on from his devastating leg injury, Chris Weidman is closing in on a return.

The former UFC middleweight champion has been out of action since his fight with Uriah Hall in April 2021. While many didn’t know it, the bout was actually a rematch, with Weidman winning by knockout in their fight a decade earlier. Sadly, the second fight went much differently.

Just seconds into the contest, ‘PrimeTime’ checked a kick the former champion threw. As a result, Weidman broke his right fibula and tibia instantly, similar to Anderson Silva’s injury he suffered at UFC 168 in December 2013. While ‘The Spider’ was able to return to the octagon just over a year later, his former opponent hasn’t had the same luck.

Chris Weidman is going on nearly two years out of the cage but now has a light at the end of the tunnel. The former champion underwent several surgeries, with amputation even being on the table at one point. However, he’s since returned to training and even had a grappling match with Owen Livesey at Polaris 23 earlier this month.

That grappling match was just the start, according to the former champion. In a recent interview on the UFC Unfiltered podcast, Weidman revealed his plans to return at UFC 290 in July. The card is expected to be headlined by Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic.

Chris Weidman following his leg injury at UFC 261.

“I think I’m like, pretty good.” Chris Weidman stated on the UFC Unfiltered podcast discussing a return. “For me to break my bone and then go through the rod, I don’t think that’s going to happen, a compound fracture isn’t going to be happening [again]. But my goal is to kick as hard as I possibly can, so maybe it does happen. I just wanted to defy the odds, imagine that.”

He continued, “I think [I’ll return] sometime in the summer. I was saying June, but now I’m thinking of International Fight Week. Around that time period, I’ll be good.”

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