Chris Weidman 'grateful' for UFC return after 2-year injury layoff - ESPN

BOSTON — Chris Weidman is poised to complete a return after one of the most devastating in-cage injuries in the history of the UFC.

The former UFC middleweight champion will face Brad Tavares at UFC 292 on Saturday at TD Garden. It'll be the first time Weidman steps into the Octagon since April 4, 2021, when he sustained a gruesome broken right leg in a fight against Uriah Hall at UFC 261. Weidman fractured the tibia and fibula and it was a compound fracture — bone tore through muscle, nerves and flesh, making it one of the worst in-competition injuries ever in the UFC.

The break happened just 17 seconds into the bout. Weidman started the fight with a hard leg kick that Hall blocked with his own leg. Weidman's shin shattered on impact and he went down in visible pain.

Weidman, now 39 years old, needed multiple surgeries to fully repair the leg. At first, the goal was to just live a healthy life with his family. But after disciplined recovery and rehab, he knew he'd be ready to return to fighting.

"[MMA] was kind of the furthest thing from my mind," Weidman told ESPN on Wednesday. «It was about being healthy, being able to provide for my family and be there for my kids, play with my kids. That was kind of like the main thing. So, for me to be here, I'm more than grateful than ever, because I didn't know if I was really going to be able to come back.»

Weidman said the mental aspect of recovery was just as difficult, if not more so, than the physical over the past 26 months.

«It was just nonstop issues after issue,» Weidman said. «Light at the end of the tunnel, then it just disappears and no light at all. So, it was just staying optimistic, taking one day at a time and not getting depressed.»

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