Gino Francisco

Chris Weidman deserves his contracted UFC 309 ‘show’ money after Eryk Anders had to pull out just hours before their fight. “My show money is my win money. I have guaranteed money. So that was my point—like, I showed up, you guys had that on the budget sheet to begin with, you guys had a great night, why do you guys get to keep that money and I don’t? That was my thought. Their thoughts were, ‘Listen, this happens on like 40% of the cards, and if we paid people to not fight…’ They just want to be consistent on what they do in those situations.” First off, the UFC doesn’t deal with anywhere near 40% of fighters falling off the card on the actual day of the fight, especially where there’s no opportunity for a replacement fighter to step in. Chris Weidman did everything he was supposed to do for UFC 309 right up to the start of the fight card. He successfully made weight, attended all media obligations, and was ready to fight on Saturday night. His opponent, Eryk Anders, fell ill with food poisoning—which happens—and had to be removed from the card the day of the fight. The UFC was not able to replace Anders with a last-second opponent. None of this was Weidman’s fault or within his control. Weidman is on a fully guaranteed contract, not a “show/win” type of deal. The UFC had a very successful night, as evidenced by their announcement of a top 5 biggest gate in UFC history. The money that was supposed to be paid to Weidman was clearly already allocated. The tickets were sold, and Weidman’s family and friends—many of whom traveled to New York—were all in attendance, ready to watch him fight. Yes, the UFC rebooked Weidman for UFC 310 on December 7th, but that should have no bearing on them paying his full guaranteed “show” money for UFC 309. Weidman briefly compared his situation to that of his brother-in-law, Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, whose fight with Michel Pereira fell through in 2023 after Pereira missed weight by three pounds. Wonderboy declined to accept the fight. However, there is really no comparison between Wonderboy’s situation and Weidman’s. Weidman had no option to fight at UFC 309 after Anders pulled out on the day of the scheduled bout. The UFC is worth over $12 billion. Surely, they can afford to pay fighters their show money in the extremely rare occasion when an opponent falls off the card on the very day of the fight. Chris Weidman has done a lot for the UFC: 🔹 19 fights in the UFC 🔹 Former UFC Champion 🔹 30 surgeries 🔹 8x headliner (5 PPVs) 🔹 15 main card appearances @chrisweidman / @arielhelwani #TheArielHelwaniShow Full interview: youtube.com/live/VwBPDMCg5uU…