Weidman and Silva were booked to renew their rivalry on December 19 at Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, as part of the undercard for the Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua bout. But it was recently revealed that Weidman had been forced off the card, with his place being taken by former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley.
Weidman posted a video to his Instagram to share the circumstances surrounding his withdrawal from the fight.
“I was ready to go. Feeling really good, you know?” he said.
“I didn’t think you could get hurt boxing, I felt it’s so, so much easier on the body compared to MMA. And then this happened.
“Tore my bicep tendon throwing a left hook, and there goes that tendon. And I tried to push through. I tried to give it some rest. It was 95 percent torn, and because there was still a bit of tendon left, it was just too painful. I couldn’t get through it.
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“I would have been better off if the thing was completely torn. After the inflammation went down from that, it would have been a little bit weaker, but I think I would have been able to fight and then get the surgery afterwards.
“But unfortunately, every time I would give it rest and try to give it a shot to train again, I would start feeling good shadowboxing and stuff. And then, as soon as I would speed up my punches, it was really bad pain. And then my arm, I couldn’t even hold my arm up for defense anymore. So it sucks.
“It’s crazy how it happened. It looked like nothing. I was sparring a professional boxer, and in the first one minute, I threw not even a hard left hook, and my bicep just popped, and I knew it was a problem.”
Despite the injury setback, Weidman said he’d still love to face his old foe in the boxing ring, and hopes that the matchup can be rekindled a little further down the line, once he’s fully recovered.
“I hope it happens in the future,” he said.
“I was really excited. The boxing training was really going well. I had a lot of fun doing it. I really fell in love with boxing, so I’m hoping to get this thing healed up fast and get back into training and see if I could get that fight back with Anderson. I will let you know if that happens.
“In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy Thanksgiving and continue my TV work with the UFC, and I’m excited about all that. So stay tuned. I just wanted to clear up the confusion on why now Tyron Woodley is fighting Anderson Silva, and not me.”
Weidman fought Silva twice in the UFC, winning by stoppage on both occasions. His first meeting with “The Spider” came at UFC 162 in July 2013, where “The All-American” shocked the world with a second-round knockout of the Brazilian to capture the undisputed UFC middleweight title in Las Vegas.
The pair faced off again in an immediate title rematch in Vegas at UFC 168 five months later, where Weidman ran out the TKO victor after he checked a Silva leg kick that shattered the former champion’s leg.
Both men have since retired from the sport of MMA, but Silva has dabbled in professional boxing, compiling a 3-2 professional record that includes victories over former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and former UFC champion Tito Ortiz. His most recent boxing outing came in October 2022 when he lost a unanimous decision to Jake Paul over eight rounds.
