This past Saturday on the main card of UFC Atlantic City, we saw the return of a former middleweight champion. “The All American” Chris Weidman (16-7) was back as he took on Brazilian Bruno Silva (23-11).
This was a massive fight for both men. For Weidman, it was going to be potentially his final fight inside the octagon. Weidman has had a brutal last few years and at 39, he knows the end is near for his career. Bruno Silva after starting out 3-0 in the UFC, was just 1-4 in his last five so he desperately needed a win.
Weidman started out really fast on Saturday with a heavy dose of kicks. He then turned to his grappling where he controlled Silva for the majority of the second half of the round. In the second round, Silva started pushing his foot on the gas a little more but Weidman was still landing more and won the second round on all three judges scorecards.
Entering the final round, Silva needed a finish as he was down 0-2 on all three scorecards. He did push forward and try to throw more. Out of no where, he went down and Weidman jumped on him to finish the fight. Silva immediately jumped up and protested he was poked in the eye. Upon the replay, he was poked in the eye and that’s why he went down.
Originally, it was announced that Weidman had won by TKO. However, it was corrected and announced that because of the foul being in the third round, they went to the judges scorecards and Weidman won at UFC Atlantic City by decision.
What’s next after UFC Atlantic City?
I’ve seen a lot of people talking about a potential rematch because of the way the fight ended. It absolutely sucks for Bruno Silva but let’s not act like this was some robbery by the judges. It was an accidental eye poke and because it was deemed that he couldn’t continue, they went to the scorecards which were lopsided in Weidman’s favor.
Weidman had won the fight to that point and fights can go to the scorecards when there’s a foul in the final round. I don’t think it was intentional, but I do think they probably should’ve taken a point. However, even if they did in factoring in the scorecards, Weidman still wins by decision at UFC Atlantic City.
In terms of what’s next, I’d like to see Weidman fight one more time at least. He proved that he can still hang on Saturday night. Maybe a fight with someone like Marc-Andre Barriault would be fun for the fans or even someone like a Paul Craig if he were to los to Caio Borralho in his next fight. Either way, I wanna see Weidman get a clean fight to end his career if that’s what he chooses to do.