UFC Atlantic City, the latest fight night event of the promotion, ended with Manon Fiorot winning the main event fight against Erin Blanchfield in a not-so-controversial or exciting fight. However, the preluding bouts, particularly the middleweight fight between Chris Weidman and Bruno Silva, were extremely controversial.
Even though Weidman was adjudged the winner via unanimous decision, a series of eye pokes from Weidman on Silva had a part to play in the result of the fight. A section of the MMA community wanted the result of the fight to be overturned into a No Contest.
Chris Weidman slams Bruno Silva for eye poke comment
Chris Weidman recently appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour, fresh off his first victory inside the octagon in almost four years. Weidman was very critical of Silva in the interview. Silva had earlier posted on Instagram that the result at Atlantic City was unfair and frustrating.
“Any time [Bruno’s] eyeball got touched at all, he’d drop to the ground and was crying and he needed time”, said Weidman in the interview who felt that Silva’s reaction to eye pokes was very unnecessary as he added, “What are we turning this into? MMA is a tough sport.”
The Silva versus Weidman fight ended midway through the third fight. Initially thought of as a TKO victory, replays showed that Weidman poked Silva twice which caused the Brazilian to fall to the ground.
As the fight progressed to the third round, the fight was judged until the moment of stoppage. Weidman had won all the rounds on all three judges’ scorecards and therefore was awarded a unanimous decision victory.
Gary Copeland, the referee who officiated the fight, had made mistakes even before the Silva versus Weidman fight. Copeland prematurely stopped the fight between Kyle Nelson and Bill Algeo much to the chagrin of the MMA community.
Interestingly, Copeland also officiated the fight between Andre Petroski and Jacob Malkoun which ended bizarrely in favor of the latter. Malkoun appeared to rock Petroski with his hip as he went in on a takedown before finishing with a soccer kick and punches.
Chris Weidman reveals eye injury after UFC Atlantic City
Chris Weidman poked Silva four times in his fight with Bruno Silva. After a poke in the first round, he poked him again in the second round before the double poke that led to the stoppage of the fight.
Interestingly Weidman revealed a picture of his left eye in a social media post. In the picture, Weidman showed the after-effects of an eye poke he suffered from Silva.
Chris Weidman shares a photo of his eye a couple days after his fight with Bruno Silva 😬
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) April 3, 2024
He claims it was caused by an eye poke.
(via. @arielhelwani #TheMMAHour, H/T @LaSueur_off) pic.twitter.com/EvvlPWuVXp
The second eye poke that happened in the fight was a double eye poke. Both Weidman and Silva appeared to poke each other but Silva had a more animated reaction to it. From the replays, it was evident that Weidman poked him but only grazed his opponent’s eye.
However, Silva’s poke at Weidman was more severe. Nonetheless, it was very difficult to know whether it was an eye poke or not. It appeared that Silva may have landed a punch on Weidman. The video evidence was inconclusive.
Do you think Chris Weidman’s statements about Bruno Silva were right? Leave your thoughts below!
