Chris Weidman will make the walk to the Octagon again.
Weidman last fought at UFC 261 in April 2021 against Uriah Hall. Sadly, just 17 seconds into the fight, the former UFC middleweight champion threw a leg kick that Hall checked and it broke his leg which forced him to need multiple surgeries.
After the injury, it was uncertain if Weidman would be able to fight again. Yet, he has been vocal about returning to the Octagon despite the setbacks and had this summer targeted as his return.
“I think I’m like, pretty good,” Weidman stated on the UFC Unfiltered podcast discussing a return. “For me to break my bone and then go through the rod, I don’t think that’s going to happen, a compound fracture isn’t going to be happening [again]. But my goal is to kick as hard as I possibly can, so maybe it does happen. I just wanted to defy the odds, imagine that. I think [I’ll return] sometime in the summer. I was saying June, but now I’m thinking of International Fight Week. Around that time period, I’ll be good.”
RELATED: Chris Weidman plans one more title run upon UFC return.
Now, according to Newsday, Weidman is set to return at UFC 292 in Boston, Massachusetts against Brad Tavares. The fight will take place at middleweight, with the event going down on August 19.
Chris Weidman (15-6) is coming off the loss to Hall when he broke his leg. Prior to that, he scored a decision win over Omari Akhmedov by decision to return to the win column after losing by KO to Dominick Reyes and Jacare Souza. In the UFC, the former middleweight champ is 11-6 and holds notable wins over Vitor Belfort, Lyoto Machida, Anderson Silva, twice, and Demian Maia.
Brad Tavares (19-8) is on a two-fight losing skid and is coming off a TKO loss to Bruno Silva and before that, dropped a decision to Drucs Du Plessis. The Hawaiian is 14-8 in the UFC and has notable wins over Antonio Carlos Junior, Akhmedov, Nate Marquardt, and Krzysztof Jotko among others.
With Weidman’s return booked at UFC 292, the card is as follows:
- Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O’Malley
- Zhang Weili vs. Amanda Lemos
- Cody Garbrandt vs. Mario Bautista
- Chris Weidman vs. Brad Tavares
- Gerald Meerschaert vs. Andre Petroski
