Chris Weidman confirms he has appealed against UFC 210 loss to Gegard Mousasi
Weidman lost to Mousasi via TKO in controversial fashion at UFC 210.
Chris Weidman has formally appealed against his TKO loss to Gegard Mousasi at UFC 210 in Brooklyn, New York.
The former middleweight champion was declared unfit to fight by a New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) doctor after Mousasi delivered two legal knees to Weidman's face, which were initially deemed illegal by referee Dan Miragliotta.
The 32-year-old appeared to have his hands on the ground during the clinch, making him a grounded opponent, however, replays showed Mousasi's knees were legal, despite video evidence not being allowed in New York.
With Miragliotta ready to resume the fight, the NYSAC doctor stepped in and declared the fight a TKO win for Mousasi, with Weidman feeling he was "screwed."
"The All American" however, who dropped to number six in the middleweight rankings, said that he does not think anything major will come out of the appeal.
"We sent in the appeal," he said on The MMA Hour. "It's really on my managers, my trust is in them. They came up with something to send over, I looked it over, as did my wife. They sent it to New York and I think they might've got a reply."
"As for me and my hopes, to win an appeal in New York, especially it being so fresh, they are going to fight this thing to the death. At the end of the day, it doesn't make a huge difference to me personally.
"I know what happened in there was chaos and not right and I was on the losing end of it. It sucks for a lot of reasons, but at the end of the day, I can't control any of it and it's over. I'll just look to the future. Whether they make it a no contest or not, I'm not focused on it."
Meanwhile, middleweight champion Michael Bisping came down heavily on Weidman and claimed that the latter tried to "game the system" by putting his hands on the ground so he could not get kneed by Mousasi.
However, Weidman said that he was just following the rules and stressed that he would have finished Mousasi if the fight was allowed to be resumed.
"I think I would've went on to dominate Mousasi and even finish him," he added. "Now, this is all my opinion and you can argue this back-and-forth and we will never know for that event. But, I do want a rematch because I felt I was dominating the fight."
"Even in the second round when he came forward and I was doing the backpedaling and he was punching. He didn't land anything and I was very coherent and I wasn't rocked. The rest of the round, I mounted him and took his back.
"I know Mousasi wasn't happy with the result, judging by him pulling down his flag and telling his coaches to stop the celebration. I know his tune changed at the press conference and he was coached into the way he was talking at that point. But his instincts were right and as a fighter you don't want to win that way. It was a debacle," he noted.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.