UFC Atlantic City is in the books and we’ve had an electric night of action at the Boardwalk Hall in AC, New Jersey. On a night that had some very impressive finishes, one of the biggest talking points emerged from the Chris Weidman fight. Owing to the controversial end to the fight, many have had a lot to say.
For those unaware, ‘The All American’ made his return to Octagon after another injury setback. Having suffered a brutal leg break in 2021, Weidman made his return last year, only to injure his good leg against Brad Tavares. Whilst many suggested that he should call it a day and retire, Chris found renewed form during his training camp for the fight.
UPDATE: After further review Weidman’s win will be ruled as a unanimous decision#UFCAtlanticCity https://t.co/Z8ZMqm4Zt0
— UFC (@ufc) March 31, 2024
As such, the same was on display when he took on Bruno Silva on the night. Despite being an underdog, many were wishing for Chris Weidman to come out victorious in this one. Eventually, after a good first round Weidman would go on to secure a TKO win in the third. However, the result and decision were rather controversial.
Michael Bisping draws similarities from Chris Weidman vs Bruno Silva
For those who tuned into UFC Atlantic City, it was evident that the night was riddled with eye-poke incidents. Not only was Chris Weidman vs Bruno Silva plagued by it, but the same occurred when Nursulton Ruziboev took on Sedriques Dumas in the fight just before it.
As such, Michael Bisping, who was on call for the event made a separate video in the aftermath, talking about everything that had transpired. Notably, he drew a lot of similarities from the Weidman-Silva fight to his fight against Anderson Silva in 2016.
“(Bruno)Silva was running forward, it looked like Weidman hits him with a check hook, but he didn’t, he poked him in the eye. But what happened was, Silva hit the deck, Weidman follows up with a few more shots, referee stops the fight, arena loses their mind, Chris Weidman jumps on top of the cage, it reminds me of when I fought Anderson Silva at the end of Round 3, when he hit me with a flying knee.”
“As he hits me, the Round finishes, I go down, ref stops it, and Silva thinks he’s won.”
“So Bruce Buffer announced it as a TKO, but now we see that that has been changed, because the review official looked at the tape, saw that it was actually an eye poke, so then we went to the judges’ scorecards.”
Following the final result, it was revealed that the decision of the fight would be changed to a unanimous decision win for Weidman. In the past, Bisping took a knee to the face at the end of Round 3 from Anderson Silva who wheeled away in celebrations at the sound of the buzzer. However, Anderson was later informed that the fight was not over, going on to lose a decision to the Englishman.
What did Chris Weidman have to say about his eye pokes?
For the most part, Chris Weidman was well aware that he had poked his opponent in the eye. Throughout the course of the fight, both Weidman and Bruno Silva jabbed an occasional finger into each other’s eye. However, it must be noted, that it was not done intentionally on either occasion and both fighters realized the same as well. Notably, Weidman’s extensive experience in the fight game was the deciding factor on the night.
In the post-fight interview, the 39-year-old spoke about the eye pokes and why Silva’s reactions cost him the fight. According to the fighter, one must continue as best possible until and unless the referee calls a halt to the fight. As such, Chris alluded to the fact that Silva, who was clearly losing the fight was seemingly looking for a way out.
“You can’t drop to the ground like that if your eye gets poked you got to stand get the ref sees it. You can’t just drop, he did that like three times and it caught up to him.”
As a result, he may have even faked an eye-poke in Round 2, something that the fans pointed out as well. All things considered, when things get into questionable territory, it’s always the street-smart fighters that prevail. On this occasion, it was Chris Weidman. All in all, the win will at least be less refuted than the ones he had against Anderson Silva.