“I would never think about cheating, that’s just not who I am” – Chris Weidman addresses eye-pokes against Bruno Silva at UFC Atlantic City

Chris Weidman has recently shared his thoughts on the eye-pokes that occurred during his fight against Bruno Silva at UFC Atlantic City.

Despite suffering a severe leg injury in April 2021, the former middleweight champion made a successful return to the win column at the Fight Night event last weekend. He overcame his injury and secured a unanimous (technical) decision victory over Silva.

Despite the initial announcement of a TKO victory for ‘The All-American’, the fight was met with controversy and was later reversed to a technical decision.

Despite clear evidence from a slow-motion replay showing Weidman poking Silva in both eyes before initiating the sequence that led to the fight’s conclusion, this ruling was still made.

During his recent interview on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Weidman maintained that the eye pokes were unintentional, explaining that they were a result of his orthodox fighting style clashing with his opponents’ southpaw stance. The 39-year-old American stressed that while maintaining distance, his fingers unintentionally made contact with Silva’s eyes.

“People think that I intentionally poked him in the eye. I just want you to know that if I had the dexterity, I would take my one finger and find his eyeball and poke it. Why wouldn’t I just knock him out anytime I wanted? It’s obviously completely unintentional, and I would never think about cheating. That’s just not who I am.”

Take a look at the statements made by Chris Weidman below:

‘Blindado’ publicly conveyed his frustration with the result of the match and expressed his dissatisfaction with the fight officials in a recent Instagram post. Furthermore, Silva has made it clear that he wants a rematch with Weidman.

View Bruno Silva’s post below:

Update on Bruno Silva’s Vision Loss After Chris Weidman’s UFC Atlantic City Infraction

Upon his return to Brazil, Bruno Silva sought the advice of an ophthalmologist to assess the state of his eyes following the eye-poking incident with Chris Weidman at UFC Atlantic City.

During a recent interview with MMA Fighting, ‘Blindado’ revealed that the doctor had compared his latest eye exam results to previous ones and observed a significant decrease in vision caused by the eye pokes.

“Chris Weidman poked both my eyes, and the exam showed I lost 30 percent of my vision in one of the eyes But the doctor doesn’t think it’s permanent, he thinks it will come back fast. I’ll have to go back there next week for another test.”

Silva announced his intention to file an appeal with the New Jersey Athletic Control Board, the governing body of the event, in hopes of overturning his defeat and having it declared a no-contest.