Chris
Weidman is on the road to recovery.
The former middleweight champion shared X-ray photos from the
gruesome broken leg he suffered after landing a leg kick against
Uriah
Hall in the opening seconds of their UFC 261 bout at Vystar
Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., on Saturday.
Weidman underwent a successful procedure to repair the injury on
Sunday and will return home on Tuesday after spending a few days in
the hospital.
“Before and after X-rays of this nightmare. Special thanks to Dr.
Gitlin for performing a successful surgery and being so helpful
during the entire process. Also, a big thank you to Dr. Davidson
from the [UFC] for making sure I was taken care of properly and
speaking to these doctors on my behalf,” Weidman wrote on
Instagram. “It made me feel so much better having him involved
because I know he had my back. The primary concern is the bone
punctured through my calf and skin when I put my weight on it,
making sure the laceration doesn’t get infected.”
In a separate video posted over the weekend, Weidman said it could
take six to 12 months before he is able to resume training. “The
All-American” had a titanium rod inserted into his leg as part of
the surgery.
“I think it’s gonna be eight weeks until I can walk without
crutches and stuff, and drive and all that,” Weidman said. “And
then as far as actually training, I don’t know. They said between
six and 12 months, I’ll be good to go. I’m trying to find the
blessing in disguise, the silver lining of this.
“Honestly, as soon as it happened and I hit the floor and seen what
happened to my leg and the pain started hitting me, I was just
trying to put my mind on something positive that’s gonna come out
of this. Hopefully, something’s gonna come out of this that’s good.
But man, this is not fun, I can’t believe it happened.”