UFC News: Chris Weidman Scores Controversial Double Eye-Poke Decision

Chris Weidman has made a successful comeback at UFC Atlantic City — though the victory has a massive asterisk.

Weidman’s bout with Bruno Silva ended early in the third round via TKO, but the fight was littered with eye pokes. Fight replays showed Weidman scored a bizarre double eye-poke on Silva which caused him to drop to the floor before the finish. The fight was then scored a TKO in favour of Weidman.

However, during Weidman’s post-fight speech, the result was overturned to a decision. Review officials considered the eye poke and opted to score the rounds rather than stick with the TKO result.

Weidman will surely be disappointed in the fact his first TKO victory since 2015 has been overturned, but he’ll be pleased with the win nonetheless. “The All-American” is now 3-7-0 in his last 10 UFC appearances.

Round-by-Round

Weidman controlled the majority of round one with his boxing and grappling. “The All-American” pinned Silva against the fence and the Brazilian had no solution, opting to wait in favour of not giving Weidman an advantage.

The second round was action-packed, Silva stepped on the gas and clipped Weidman with shots that would TKO lesser opponents. Weidman bit down on his gumshield, throwing kicks with full power — which caused a collective cringe among the broadcast team. Some fouls stalled the action, but round two was nearly dead-even, with both men trading heavy shots in the final seconds.

Round three was almost immediately stalled by an eye poke. When the action resumed, it appeared as though Weidman dropped Silva with a check hook, he pounced on Silva, securing a TKO. The crowd bellowed, but Silva pounded the floor in objection. The fight is scored a TKO for Weidman and later overturned to a decision.


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Mathew Riddle MMA

Mathew Riddle

Mathew is a combat sports journalist & designer. His past bylines include Sports Illustrated, Heavy on UFC, Sport Skeeda, MMA UK, and MMA Sucka.