Daniel Cormier teased that Chris Weidman was ‘living in a fairytale world’ for thinking that his old injuries wouldn’t be targeted by opponents heading into UFC Atlantic City.
The former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight world champion couldn’t believe what he was hearing from Chris Weidman, with the conversation turning into a moral argument about targeting your opponents’ injuries during a fight.
Former champion Chris Weidman returns for UFC Atlantic City vs Silva
Former UFC middleweight world champion Chris Weidman returns to the octagon this weekend on the main card of UFC Atlantic City, where he is set to face Brazilian veteran Bruno Silva.
Silva might be five years younger, but ‘Blindado’ has earned himself just one win in his last five fights and is coming off back-to-back defeats to Brendan Allen and Shara Magomedov.
Since suffering a broken leg against Uriah Hall in 2021, Weidman has competed just once in the UFC; a decision loss to Brad Tavares, who targeted the legs of Weidman so badly that he fractured the former champion’s shin bone.
Unfortunately, many fans and pundits alike are expecting Silva to also target the old leg injuries of an aging Weidman, including former double champion Daniel Cormier.
Daniel Cormier warns Weidman about ‘naivety’ over leg attacks
Speaking via Daniel Cormier’s official YouTube channel ahead of UFC Atlantic City, Weidman noted that before the Brad Tavares fight, he “wasn’t sure” whether his leg injuries would be part of his opponent’s gameplan.
“Why would you not be sure Chris?! If you saw somebody who had an injury like you did and you were fighting them, then you would go after the legs” argued a visibly shocked Cormier, who said that thinking such a leg break wouldn’t be targeted is naïve on the part of the ‘All American’:
“I mean you’re living in a fairytale world because you’re in there with your children in a big, beautiful mansion that you own and you’re thinking everything’s freaking strawberries and ice cream when in reality you’re in a killer’s sport!”
Weidman attempted to wrestle back the conversation by noting that “hindsight is 2020” and that he has learned the lessons of past mistakes, although Cormier wasn’t budging:
“I don’t even care about that; I care about the mentality – I never thought you were so naive. You and I have been really good on TV together, but I never would have imagined that you were naïve.”
To his credit, the former middleweight champion also argued that specifically targeting leg attacks is a sure way to throw an entire strategy out of the window:
“I’m very self-aware, I don’t think I’m naïve, and I don’t think people have it in them to be like ‘Okay I got to do this, I got to attack this one thing’ – it kind of shuts off the rest of your game.”
Weidman didn’t expect a leg kick-heavy approach last fight
Speaking at the pre-fight media day, Weidman reiterated that he “felt great” heading into his last fight against Brad Tavares, but that neither he nor his team expected such a leg-kicking heavy gameplan:
“Obviously the fight didn’t go as planned – I got leg kicked to death and broke the other leg, so it was a disaster in that regard,” he said.
“At first in my head, I wasn’t expecting that to be honest, I thought Tavares liked to be in the pocket and throw, evade takedowns you know but I didn’t expect him to be kicking and running like that.”
Chris Weidman vs Bruno Silva leads into the co-main event of UFC Atlantic City this weekend, set to go down on Saturday, March 30.