“Yeah I Gave Her the Bad Juju”- Chris Weidman Believes His Injury Played a Part in Zhang Weili’s Defeat Against Rose Namajunas

Chris Weidman agrees his injury at UFC 261 might have caused Zhang Weili to lose against Rose Namajunas. He believes he gave her the ‘bad juju’ before her fight.

The 37-year-old fighter faced a gruesome injury against Uriah Hall just 17 seconds into the fight. Shortly after that, the Chinese fighter, Zhang Weili, lost her title bout at the same event.

In a recent interview, Weili claimed that Chris Weidman’s injury before her fight caused her to lose focus in her own match. However, ‘The All American’ partly agrees with the former women’s strawweight champion.

Recently, Weidman appeared on The MMA Hour and shared his thoughts on the claims made by Weili. He said, “Yeah, I gave her the bad juju. I remember hanging out with her in the locker room and you know you’ve got to give people good energy and good vibes, I remember her giving the fist pound right before I went out, and yeah, I mean listen that was a super traumatic moment for me and I think anybody who watched, people in the stands and stuff, people want to compare with Conor McGregor.”

Weidman added, “His was kind of overtime. It slowly happened, and he stepped back and it broke. Mine was, we weren’t even sweating yet, there was no adrenaline going, I was fresh. It was the first strike of the fight, full force, everything I have, and it was traumatic. I think for everybody to see that happen.”

While Weidman admits to what the women’s strawweight fighter said, he also thinks that Weili should have got her mind back into the game as she was not the only fighter who witnessed his injury.

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Chris Weidman Says Zhang Weili Should Not Use His Injury as an Excuse

Rose Namajunas knocked out Zhang Weili with a head kick in the first round of the fight at UFC 261. Weili lost her gold strap and also one of the biggest matches of her career at the event.

In the same show, Chris Weidman said, “Listen, I think it would probably mess with anybody a little bit, but that being said, you don’t want to make excuses like that. I’m friends with Rose, And I love Rose.”

“I’m sure she was upset when she saw me do that, but you’ve got to get right back to getting in your own head and being ready for your own fight. Completely understandable, and I’m sure she’s being asked questions on why, and she’s just trying to figure out reasons on why she lost.”

He added, “That’s something that was in her head and something that she thought about. It wasn’t positive. You want positive vibes, you’re walking out, there’s a lot of negative thoughts you’re trying to deal with. To have to deal with something like that definitely sucks. It’s not like she’s lying saying that rattled her. I believe her 100 percent.”

That said, Weidman’s injury might have affected Weili’s mindset in the game. However, it was Namajunas’s stunning performance that stopped Weili from defending her title at UFC 261.

The former middleweight champion Weidman is on the road to recovery. The latter recently underwent a second surgery for his broken leg. However, the (15-6) record holder will stay out of the octagon for a year or more.

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