Chris Weidman: 'Zero Regrets' About How I Fought 'Jacare'

The result may not have been what he had hoped for, but Chris Weidman isn’t second-guessing the process. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion took on grappling ace Ronaldo Souza last month at UFC 230 in New York. After two closely-contested rounds, Weidman ended up getting caught by "Jacare" in the third and knocked out with a volley of punches.

The 34-year-old appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show recently and claimed that he had no regrets with how he performed during the fight and the finish was just one of those unfortunate things which can happen in MMA. The Long Island native and former Hofstra University wrestler also lamented going 0-2 in New York City in similar, heartbreaking fashion.

“I mean that’s crazy,” Weidman said. “Two times [in] Madison Square Garden, third round, winning the fight and [I get] knocked out. It’s tough. This last fight I have zero regrets, I really don’t. Hindsight 20/20, I could look back and say, ‘Oh I could’ve done this differently or that differently,’ but at the end of the day I went out there and I left it all out there. I did everything I could to win the fight. I was feeling great on my feet, I felt really comfortable. He had hit me with some really good shots in the first and second round; I felt fine.

“So heading into the third round, I felt really no danger in the stand-up position,” Weidman added. “I felt like I was picking him apart and I felt great. So there was no need to look for takedowns. I felt like everything was going fine and then he hit me on the button, obviously.”

The knockout loss to Souza caused the New York State Athletic Commission to issue a 90-day no-contact suspension to Weidman, who is now 1-4 in his last five fights dating back to December 2016, when he lost his UFC middleweight title to Luke Rockhold.