UFC’s Bruno Silva lost ‘30 per cent of vision in one eye’ after pokes by Chris Weidman

Silva’s stoppage loss to Weidman was overturned to a decision win, but the Brazilian is seeking a No Contest

Bruno Silva has claimed he lost ‘30 per cent’ of his vision in one eye during his loss to Chris Weidman, who landed numerous eye pokes en route to a controversial win.

Silva had already complained of eye pokes before he hit the canvas in the third round on Saturday (30 March), with replays showing that he had not been knocked down but rather suffered two straight pokes to the eye.

As a result, Weidman’s TKO win was changed to a technical decision, with the former middleweight champion leading on the scorecards at the time of the stoppage.

Brazilian Silva is seeking a No Contest, however, and told MMA Fighting on Wednesday (3 April): “He poked both my eyes, and the exam showed I lost 30 per cent of my vision in one of the eyes.

“But the doctor doesn’t think it’s permanent, he thinks it will come back fast. I’ll have to go back there next week for another test.

“We think it’s hard for Chris Weidman to accept a rematch, but the No Contest would be fair. Let’s see what the UFC does. I just want things done the right way, the fair way. I went there and fought, and you didn’t see any malice from my part.”

Weidman’s victory over Silva in Atlantic City was the American’s first since August 2020. In April 2021, the former champion suffered a broken leg in a loss to Uriah Hall, and when Weidman returned to the ring last August, he suffered a decision defeat.

Talking on the MMA Hour on Wednesday, Weidman said of his fight with Silva: “I feel like it’s a legitimate win. I won all three rounds according to the judges’ scorecards.

“Is it the way I wanted to win? Hell no. I don’t want to poke a guy in the eyes. I’ve never poked a guy in the eyes ever in any fight, and then in this fight, if you add it up, it was two and then the ‘one-two eye poke’ – as people are saying – in the last one.

“It’s just unfortunate. I don’t want that to happen. It’s never happened before [...] Of course, I am sorry that it happened, and it sucks that it ended that way, but you could make a very strong argument that I got eye poked – by far the most devastating eye poke of all the eye pokes.

“I didn’t drop to the mat and try to get time, and all eye pokes aren’t created the same.”