Chris Weidman plans to appeal controversial loss to Gegard Mousasi: ‘I got screwed’

There’s been much talk about confusion over the rules in the wake of Gegard Mousasi’s highly controversial victory over Chris Weidman at UFC 210 on Saturday night.

But as far as Weidman is concerned, things are pretty clear.

The former UFC middleweight champion was told by referee Dan Miragliotta that Mousasi threw an illegal knee in the second round of their match at Buffalo’s KeyBank Center. The ruling changed midstream from illegal to legal after Miragliotta looked at the replays, despite video evidence not being allowed under New York State Athletic Commission rules.

Thus, Weidman feels he has a cut-and-dried case to get the ruling of his TKO loss overturned.

“Pretty much for the whole time, [Miragliotta] was telling me ‘illegal knee,’” Weidman said at the post-fight press conference. “I thought I was going to win because of the illegal knee. Then they looked at a replay, they left the Octagon and looked at the replay and see the legal knee, but in the state of New York, you’re not allowed to look, there’s no replays. It’s a crappy situation.”

So Weidman, following what’s now his third consecutive loss, plans on appealing the decision.

“I don’t know what’s going on with the commission,” Weidman said. “The head of the commission said there’s no replay in the state, so why the hell did this happen to me?”

Regardless how the situation with NYSAC plays out, Weidman wants a rematch with Mousasi, assuming Mousasi re-signs with the UFC, as UFC 210 represented the last fight on his contract.

“Gegard has got to be pissed, too,” Weidman said. “He didn’t want to win the fight like that. I would have been pissed if they stopped it and I won the fight. I would definitely do a rematch. I want a rematch right away.”

Adding to the chaos of the situation was the change of rules enacted by most, but not all, state athletic commissions in 2017. Prior to this year, one hand on the mat was enough to make a knee in the head a foul. This year, a knee to the head of a fighter with one hand on the mat is legal; but it remains legal with two hands (the palms or fists, not just the fingers) on the mat.

Weidman was aware of this, which is why he made his attempt to get both hands on the mat after Mousasi landed his first knee.

“I knew what I was doing,” Weidman said. “He kneed me in the head once when I had the hands down, so I said, ‘alright i’ll put the two hands down, so he can’t knee me,’ then he kneed me and the ref stopped it saying it’s an illegal knee. That’s as clear as I was with it.”

Making matters all the more frustrating for Weidman is that he was ruled unfit to continue after the rest period.

“I don’t know the reason why, they thought I wasn’t fit,” Weidman said. “I thought i was ready to go, I’ve been through way worse.”

This situation will take time to sort out, so for now, all Weidman can do is go home to Long Island with a bad taste in his mouth.

“At the end of the day, the people of New York got screwed,” Weidman said. “I got screwed, and it sucks.”