UFC fighter Chris Weidman emerged from his latest bout with a victory, but not without controversy and injury.
faced off against Bruno Silva in New Jersey, delivering a decisive blow in round three that led to a ground and pound sequence, prompting a stoppage.
However, replays revealed an accidental eye poke by Weidman, causing Silva to fall to the ground. Consequently, the TKO victory was overturned, and the fight went to the judges’ scorecards, with Weidman unanimously declared the winner.
Despite securing the win, Weidman suffered significant injuries himself.
His right eye swelled shut, resembling the iconic bloodshot eye of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator character, drawing comparisons online.
Silva, 34, disclosed that he lost 30 percent of his vision in one eye due to the eye poke, although doctors believe the vision loss may not be permanent.
Reflecting on the fight, Weidman, 39, expressed mixed emotions about his victory, acknowledging the unfortunate circumstances.
He stated, “I feel like it’s a legitimate win. I won all three rounds according to the judges’ scorecards.”
However, he emphasized his discomfort with the eye pokes, noting that it was an unprecedented occurrence in his fighting career.”I’ve never poked a guy in the eyes ever in any fight and then in this fight, if you add it up, it was two and then the one-two eye poke as people are saying in the last one,” Weidman told MMA Fighting.”It’s just unfortunate. I don’t want that to happen. It’s never happened before.”