Chris Weidman has not fought since Dec. 12, 2015 when he lost the UFC middleweight title to Luke Rockhold after being knocked out in the fourth round.
A neck injury that required surgery in early June sidelined Weidman for nearly a full year, and in the meantime, the middleweight title changed hands from Rockhold to Michael Bisping.
Now, the New York native returns home to fight in his home state for the first time in his career as the UFC makes its first visit ever to Madison Square Garden at UFC 205. Weidman will face off with the No. 4 middleweight in the UFC rankings, Yoel Romero, on Saturday night in New York City as he looks to prove that he is fully recovered from both his loss to Rockhold and his neck injury, ready to conquer the middleweight division again.
Weidman spoke with CBS Sports in October during his training camp to discuss his health status, upcoming fight with Romero, importance of fighting in front of family in New York and more.
How has it felt to get back in a full training camp since last year?
It feels good. Everything's going good. Everything's going smooth, and to have a fight in Madison Square Garden in New York, I'll be a little extra excited and it's pushing me even harder.
How much did you push to be on this card being from New York and did you have any opportunities to come back sooner but wanted to wait for this card?
No, actually. I had neck surgery in, what, early June. So this just happened to work out perfectly. The UFC wanted to use me for this card anyway and so they weren't trying to push me on an earlier card or a card afterwards.
How is everything feeling with your neck and where are you at health wise for this fight?
Yeah my neck is awesome. No issues. It healed up perfect. The first day I wrestled, it felt weak, about 6-or-7 weeks ago was the first time I wrestled and I got scared. Like, oh my gosh, people are snapping down my neck and that's never happened before. And the next time I wrestled after that, everything worked out and was back to normal. So I guess I just had to get used to it again. Since then, no issues at all. Nothing at all bothers me with my neck.
So, you have the partnership with QALO active lifestyle wedding rings and family is such an important thing for you. How meaningful is it for you to get the fight in the first event UFC has in New York and fight in front of family and all that?
Oh, it's huge. I have so many friends and family that always wanted to come to my fights out in Las Vegas, but it's too expensive or for some other reason -- there's a billion reasons why you can't get out to Las Vegas. So to be able to have this fight in Madison Square Garden, where most of my family is around town or in upstate New York or in New Jersey and they can just take a train ride right in. It's just so convenient for everybody.
What are the biggest challenges that Romero presents for you?
I'm expecting it to be a tough fight. He's a well decorated wrestler, very explosive, a good athlete. Got an unorthodox style on his feet, powerful. He definitely brings a lot to the table so I'm ready for a war with this guy.
Who do you feel right now presents the biggest challenge at middleweight in such a loaded class?
I think Yoel Romero is a tough fight for me. A fight where if I can put on a dominant finish that would really show a lot. I think this is on paper, definitely a very tough matchup. On paper, he's a better wrestler. It's a fight where I can prove a lot.
The saying goes you learn the most from your losses. Was there anything you're able to take from the Rockhold fight that you think can make you better going forward in your career?
Yeah. Not much from the fight itself, but what I learned from that loss is that I've got to prepare differently and changed things up with my training. So, I think my preparation has changed.
What specifically have you changed?
Staying healthy, man. Not overtraining. I think I overtrained and got too many injuries and just pushed through them in camp. So that was why I wasn't able to do things I needed to do during camp to get in shape and figured I'd just go out there and win based on hard work. When you're not able to train properly because of injuries and you keep pushing and keep pushing, it catches up to you. So now I don't try to kill myself everyday.
That seems like something a lot of fighters need to learn. This year, we've seen so many injuries in training that have forced cards to get changed. Is that something more guys can learn from and take a better approach to in training?
Yeah, you know. It's a tough situation and a tough thing to do because you need to work hard to get your confidence up and you need to push yourself to feel like you're ready for a fight. But at the same time, we're in a very dangerous sport, to train as hard as you do it brings a lot of chances of injury. So you've got to find a medium between working hard and working too hard where you can hurt yourself. And the thing is, even when you're not going that hard you can still hurt yourself. It's just the type of thing where with the workouts we have and have to do, it's a tough sport on your body. Injuries are always going to happen no matter how safe you are, but you want to try to limit it as much as possible.
If you get past Romero would you prefer a title shot with Bisping or a shot at revenge against Rockhold?
Oh I would definitely want a title shot. That's where the money's at. Where that belt is is where it's at. My redemption against Luke, I'm kind of over it. It's done. I lost. I want to get that back, but it's not something I'm thinking about every day. At some point we'll fight again.
