Ex-UFC Champion Chris Weidman Teases Return With New Training Video

KEY POINTS

Chris Weidman has returned to training after being sidelined by a foot injury
Weidman showed off a couple of kicks and some wrestling in a recent training session with Stephen Thompson
He revealed his UFC return target date

Chris Weidman has not fought since April 2021 after incurring a gruesome foot injury at UFC 261. Some believe that the former UFC middleweight champion will be sidelined for a very long period of time, or worse, be prompted to retire due to the severity of his injury.

However, Weidman is now back in training and is looking forward to making his UFC return sooner rather than later. The 37-year-old recently joined UFC welterweight Stephen Thompson for a wrestling and light sparring session.

In a recent video uploaded by Thompson on his official YouTube channel, Weidman appeared to have fully recovered as he could be seen working on his kicks.

“I’m feeling good! I’m coming back, baby! Let’s go!” a pumped-up Weidman said in the video.

“I feel like we’re both learning,” he said of training with Thompson. “I learned a lot, he’s teaching a lot, [especially] on the feet, even if he’s not opening his mouth. And on the ground, he’s learning without even realizing it. The more we train, the more dangerous we build on.”

Weidman was in the process of redeeming himself in the middleweight division when he sustained the terrible foot injury. Now that he could be edging closer to his UFC return, “The All-American” knows that time is of the essence and he’s not wasting any.

According to Weidman, his “goal” is to step back inside the octagon by June.

“I want to fight before I turn 38 in June,” he told MMA Fighting’s “The Fighter vs. The Writer” last month. “That’s my goal. I hate seeing the older age on the screen when I get introduced. I’ve always been like that, even when I was in my 20s. I don’t want to be 29, I want to be 28 for the next one. So I still have that in me a little bit, now I’m just way older. So if I could fight around early June, that would be great. Again, there’s a lot in the air and it’s very unpredictable.”

“This is a very serious injury,” he continued. “I’ve been through lots of injuries before, obviously you know I’ve had 25 surgeries. This is very different. There are a lot of moving parts. So I have goals when I’d like to fight but I’m not going to die over a month or two difference. I am coming back and I am coming back in 2022.”