Following his surprising loss at UFC 310, there were calls for Chris Weidman to retire.

Weidman was upset by Eryk Anders in his UFC preliminary bout, much to the surprise of thousands of MMA fans.

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The 40-year-old is a former UFC middleweight champion and defeated Anderson Silva twice in 2013 – first to win the belt and then to defend it.

He successfully defended the 185-pound strap two more times before surrendering it to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194, the same card where Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo in just 13 seconds – the fastest knockout in UFC title fight history .

“The All-American” was coming off a win in his last fight in May, but looked his age in the latter stages of his loss to Anders.

Both men exchanged leather in the early stages, with Weidman even defeating his American counterpart with a beautiful left punch in the first round.

But the momentum didn’t last long as Weidman finally snapped in the second round, allowing Anders to overwhelm him on the ground with brutal ground-and-pounds to get the stoppage.

There was slight controversy surrounding the finish when Anders caused a stoppage in the second round with a hammerfist, leaving some MMA fans feeling that the referee may have intervened too quickly.

However, the majority agreed that Weidman was all but finished when he was the victim of Anders’ brutal attack and was merely in “survival mode” at the time.

MMA journalist Ben Davis reacted to the fight on X by saying, “It’s wild that Chris Weidman is dominated by Eryk Anders.”

Another journalist, Damon Martin, added: “Eryk Anders beats Chris Weidman with ground and pound for the second round.”

Fans also shared their thoughts on the fight. One said: “I completely agree with this break. Weidman was just in survival mode at that point.”

Another added that time was up for the American MMA legend: “I love you Chris Weidman but retire bro.”

While a third reacted a little more brutally: “Chris Weidman needs to retire. That was absolutely cruel.”

A fourth added: “Chris Weidman should retire. He’s never been a particularly fast fighter, but he looked like he was going in slow motion tonight.”

Weidman was scheduled to face Anders at UFC 309 – when Jon Jones retained his heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic – but the bout was canceled just hours before the fight due to the latter suffering a medical emergency.

The New York native is known for one of the worst injuries in UFC history after breaking his leg at UFC 261 just 17 seconds into his 2021 fight against Uriah Hall.

His leg kick silenced the sold-out arena in Jacksonville, Florida, and after the fight it was confirmed that “The All-American” had suffered a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula, the latter piercing the skin on the calf.

Since then, he has only won one of his three UFC contests, so it’s easy to understand why some fans think he should move away from professional fighting.

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