Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman retires - ESPN

More than a decade after producing one of the most shocking knockouts in MMA history, former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman announced his retirement on Friday during the UFC 311 weigh-in show.

«Since 2009, the goal was to be a UFC fighter,» said Weidman. «Then, immediately the goal was to become a UFC world champion. Fourteen years later, I'm here and I'm here to tell you guys I'm hanging up the gloves in the UFC. I am no longer going to be fighting for the organization that changed my life in so many ways, and I'm just super appreciative to everybody who got me here.»

The announcement came a month after losing to Eryk Anders at UFC 310, his second loss in three fights. He retires with an overall MMA record of 16-8.

Weidman, 40, was the 185-pound champ from 2013 to 2015, ascending to the top of the sport by ending the seven-year reign of Anderson Silva at UFC 162. Silva, one of the greatest in the history of MMA, had won 17 fights in a row and appeared untouchable until Weidman proved otherwise.

Weidman's second-round knockout came when he caught Silva with a left hook while the Brazilian was doing his trademark showboating. The surprise result scuttled the UFC's plans to stage what would have been a massive superfight between Silva and either Jon Jones, the light heavyweight champion at the time, or then-welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre.

At the moment of the knockout, Jones jumped to his feet from his cage-side seat, mouth agape in stunned silence. At the post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White said, «I told Jon Jones, I said, 'You lost a zillion dollars tonight. Congratulations!'»

The win over Silva made Weidman 10-0, and he successfully defended the belt three times, including in a rematch