Weidman not retiring after 2nd straight knockout loss

Following a recent knockout loss in his light heavyweight debut, Chris Weidman's MMA career will go on.

The former UFC champion, who lost to Dominick Reyes at UFC Boston in October, said Monday he has no plans to retire just yet. In fact, Weidman hopes to return to the Octagon as early as February or March.

"I've been through hell. I've had 23 surgeries," Weidman told Ariel Helwani's MMA Show. "But I feel good right now - that sounds crazy, but I feel really good. My body feels good ... I feel like I'm still capable of some big things."

Weidman, who held the UFC title at 185 pounds from 2013-15, said he plans to sit down with his team this week to determine what weight class he'll fight at next.

"That's what I don't know yet ... I can make 185 again, 205 was fun, it was less stressful, and I feel like I could beat anybody up there. But we just gotta look at the divisions and figure it out," he said.

Weidman suffered his second straight loss against Reyes. He is 1-5 in his last six bouts. Weidman's last win was a submission of Kelvin Gastelum in 2017.