Still undefeated in Atlantic City! Monster Energy congratulates MMA athlete Chris Weidman on defeating Bruno Silva at UFC Atlantic City. In the Main Card fight contested in the UFC’s middleweight division, the 39-year-old mixed martial artist from Baldwin, New York, earned a technical decision win at 2:18 minutes of Round 3.
UFC on ESPN: Blanchfield vs. Fiorot, also known as UFC on ESPN 54, was contested in front of 12,000 spectators at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. With six fights on the Main Card, the event was broadcast live to fans on ESPN and the ESPN+ platform.
Monster Energy’s Weidman (16-7) came to Atlantic City looking for a victory after most recently suffering a loss against Brad Tavares at UFC 292 in March 2023. Considered an icon of the sport, Weidman earned the UFC Middleweight Championship in 2013 and has never been defeated in Atlantic City.
“Happy to be back in my old stomping grounds for UFC Atlantic City. This is where I started my career and I’m excited to keep my undefeated record in this city going strong tonight,” Weidman told his fans on X ahead of the fight.
Weidman’s opponent, 34-year-old Bruno Silva (23-11) from Brazil, also needed a win after losing against Shara Magomedov at UFC 294 in October 2023.
Energy levels ran high for the Main Card fight in Atlantic City. The first round unfolded with Weidman landing heavy kicks to the body and stinging Silva with a straight right hand. Drawing on his strong ground game, Weidman scored a takedown and proceeded to dominate from the top, landing left hands and knees from the back.
The second round saw Weidman doubling down on precise leg kicks to the body while blocking return fire from Silva. After a blocked takedown attempt, Weidman landed precise jabs and finished the round, pressuring his opponent against the fence with combination punches.
Round three started with both fighters exchanging body kicks before Silva received a timeout after suffering an eye poke. As the action continued, Weidman broke through with precise jabs and ultimately dropped Silva by landing a left hand. As Weidman kept raining punches from above, Referee Gary Copeland ended the fight at 2:18 minutes of the third round.
The fight was initially scored a TKO win for Weidman but changed to a technical unanimous decision victory after the judges detected a foul eye poke in their video replay and consulted the score cards (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
“I’ll never question a guy if he’s saying he got poked in the eye, but you can’t just drop every time you feel something is touching your eyeball,” said Monster Energy’s Weidman after the fight. “He poked me in the eye one time, and I stood there and took it. Unless the ref is going to say something, I don’t drop. I come from a wrestling background, and it’s a similar thing, you can’t look for the referee to help you.”
Weidman is the former UFC Middleweight World Champion and determined to continue his career after the victory in Atlantic City. “I still think I have a lot of potential, and I’ve had a lot of adversity and I still think I have it. So, until I don’t think I have it anymore, I’m here,” said Weidman in his post-fight interview on Saturday night. Stay tuned for more from the “All-American” MMA icon!
Chris Weidman counts amongst Monster Energy’s elite UFC athletes along with Kamaru Usman, Jon Jones, Rose Namajunas, Marlon Vera, Michael Chandler, Justin Gaethje, Yair Rodriguez, Jessica-Rose Clark, Valentina Shevchenko, Brandon Moreno, Daniel Rodriguez, Punahele Soriano, Gilbert Burns, Giga Chikadze, Islam Makhachev, Johnny Walker, Beneil Dariush, Gaston Bolanos, Brendan Allen, Jalin Turner, Sean Strickland, Zhang Weili, Raul Rosas Jr., Dan Ige, Diego Lopes, Alex Pereira, Daniel Zellhuber, Derrick Lewis, Belal Muhammad and Cameron Saaiman.
For more on Monster Energy’s MMA athletes, visit www.monsterenergy.com. Follow Monster Energy on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
