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Dishing out and dealing with pain is Chris Weidman’s job.
The former UFC middleweight champion is quite experienced at both, for better or worse.
But for the last two years, Weidman’s been limited to the latter as he’s worked to get his body back to fighting shape following one of the most gruesome injuries in MMA history.
“I was in so much pain for such a long period of time where, the thought of getting up to get to the bathroom was just really hard for me to even grasp because it was just such a painful experience,” Weidman, who suffered a compound fracture in his right leg during an April 2021 loss to Uriah Hall, recently told The Post.
“Anytime I would get up, the blood would just start pouring down to my leg, and it was terrible.”
Weidman (15-6, 10 finishes), who returns to the octagon for the first time since throwing the fateful checked leg kick that accursed night in Jacksonville, Fla., will face veteran Brad Tavares in Saturday’s featured prelim (8 p.m., ESPN) leading into the pay-per-view portion of UFC 292 in Boston.
Anderson Silva, the other most noteworthy victim of a broken leg on a defended kick — who by bizarre coincidence endured his injury against Weidman in a championship rematch 10 years ago — managed to return to the cage a hair more than 13 months later.
However Weidman’s path to recovery just didn’t come together nearly as fast.
When Weidman, a Long Island native, steps into the octagon against Tavares (19-8, seven finishes), it will mark two years and nearly four months of anguish, lessons, setbacks and successes.
And forget returning to professional fighting; for an uncomfortably long time, Weidman wasn’t sure “normal” would ever return.
“It was months, months of really not knowing if this pain was really gonna go away or not, and also if I was gonna be able to walk again,” Weidman recalls of those uncertain times in 2021.
“And if I walk, am I gonna be able to really walk the right way; am I limping; is the leg gonna heal the right way? It was just one setback after the other.”
With time, Weidman “got my leg stronger and healed,” reopening the door for an eventual return to competition.
But it wasn’t a smooth road back to this point but, rather, one littered with bumps and pot holes.
And the hard trek gave Weidman, 39, newfound inner insight.
“I learned a lot of things,” says Weidman, reflecting on what his two-year ordeal taught him about himself.
“One: Family is super important; focusing on your family. Those people are gonna be there for the long haul, and that’s who your true supporters are in life.
“And it kind of gave me a glimpse into what life is gonna be like when I’m not fighting anymore,” the married father of three continued.
“So there [were] a lot of positive aspects that came from the leg break and having so much time off and not really knowing what I’m going to be doing and if I’m gonna be able to return.”
Optimism proved a valuable tool as well for the self-described, glass-half-full Weidman.
“There wasn’t too much time where I was really down, even through tons of adversities like, as soon as I thought it was gonna be better, and I’m ready to be back on a roll, it was just another obstacle,” he says.
“I’m proud of myself how I handled it and how I got through it all.”
While Saturday is, indeed, Weidman’s first full-bore MMA bout since his injury, he did find his way back to athletic competition earlier this year.
Over the winter, Weidman was approached on Instagram about taking a grappling match against Owen Livesey at Polaris 23 on March 11.
And while his leg was not yet in fighting shape, he used the opportunity as something of a dry run for when he did, ultimately, step back into the octagon.
“I was like, you know what, my leg isn’t probably where it needs to be, but let’s get the body in gear for a challenge and competition,” Weidman says.
“I don’t have to be at my best with my leg, but let’s just get through it, and I think it’s going to help me recover that much faster when I have something ahead of me. So I’m happy I did it.”
Beyond the obvious leg injury, Weidman also took the bout while dealing with shoulder issues he described as “a small thing” that subsequently required “just quick little surgery” that he had not previously advertised.
Neither injury dampened Weidman’s positive outlook on the experience, the first athletic competition in nearly two years for a man who’d known only athletic competition for virtually the entire life of the former standout amateur wrestler.
“I felt great. It was fun to get in there,” Weidman says of the grappling match, which went down as a loss to the accomplished British judoka Livesey. “I really couldn’t shoot well [for takedowns] because of my shoulder, but my leg actually felt strong. I wasn’t having issues because of it.
“I cut a little weight. A little nerves before a challenge like that, getting in front of people, having a competition. It was just good to get back into that realm because I was out for a while. I think that’s going to be a big thing coming into this fight. I don’t feel like I’ve been out as long,” Weidman says.
Weidman, who in 2020 moved to South Carolina to be closer to the rest of his family, has an ESPN film crew chronicling his UFC 292 fight week for an E:60 documentary targeted to premiere around the UFC 295 on Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden, and he’s hopeful that his night in Boston goes well enough to fight on that card in his home state for the first time since 2018.
“I’m gonna put on a show, make sure people want to see me,” Weidman declares with the boldness of his 2 ½-year championship run, “and then we’ll fight again at MSG.”
Ever the optimist, another run at gold remains firmly in Weidman’s gaze despite a 2-6 mark the past eight years.
If that’s not in the cards, don’t expect Weidman to stick around to just collect a fight purse.
“I’m not trying to fight a while. I’m looking to get a run in at the title, then hang it up,” Weidman says.
“I’ve had a great career; proud of what I’ve accomplished. But I know I could accomplish some big things and finish my career off with an exclamation point and something to be proud of. I’ll be happy with that. I don’t think I need to stick around too much longer after that.”
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