Weidman gives first hand account of Cyborg vs. Magana fracas

In May UFC strawweight Angela Magana made a mean Tweet about the greatest fighter in women’s MMA history, Cris Cyborg. Magana set a pic of the Brazilian entertaining children in a cancer ward side by side with an image of Billy the Puppet from the Saw franchise. Particularly given that Cyborg’s father is currently fighting cancer, the jibe did not go over well.

Later in the month, Cyborg confronted Magana at the UFC Athlete Retreat, and after exchanging words, punched her in the face. The police were contacted, and Cyborg was cited by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for misdemeanor battery. The district attorney will decide whether or not to pursue charges. And Magana has said she will be filing a civil suit.

During a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman offered an eyewitness account. It began with Weidman, Magana, and her close friend Bec Rawlings on the Brazilian fighter bus back to the resort after a tour of the new UFC Performance Institute.

When we got off the bus, that girl, Magana, was right in front of me, said Weidman, as transcribed by Peter Carroll for MMA Fighting. As I come off the bus, all I see is Cyborg run up to Magana’s face and they’re having words. I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t know if there was any beef. … I don’t follow her on Twitter so I didn’t realize what she was saying.

Basically, Cyborg was going nuts on her, like all the words you can think of. She was screaming ‘Who the f*** do you think you are?’ and talking like this and blah, blah, blah.

Magana was kind of quiet and shocked. She was kind of smiling, like a nervous smile. I was thinking, ‘Oh my God’ because she’s way smaller than Cyborg.

All of sudden [Magana] realizes what’s going on around her. She sees that there are a lot of people around and she sees cameras coming out. She grew some balls and all of sudden she starts cursing back at Cyborg. I was thinking, ‘That’s not smart.’

As soon as I saw [Magana] cursing back at Cyborg, I realize there is no one in between them and that something is going to go down. I started trying to break it up.

I came in like, ‘C’mon, guys, let’s calm it down,’ and as soon [as I did that] ‘Cyborg’ just stops screaming at Magana, looks at me and says, ‘Don’t touch me.’

I was like, ‘Alright, I’m good!’

So I backed up and then within a second she takes her hand and cracks Magana. Magana did a little shaky leg thing and right away she got teary-eyed. At least from what I heard, right away she started to say, ‘I’m calling the cops’.

That was the first thing and then Cyborg just jetted out.

I had no idea what was going on, said Weidman. I was just thinking, ‘I can’t believe she just beat the s*** out of this little girl.’

That’s what was going through my head then, but when I saw some of the stuff she was saying to Cyborg I could understand. I don’t know why she would be saying stuff like that to Cyborg, especially if you know you could be seeing her.

If someone was talking s*** like that about me, I’d probably have something to say to them the next time I see them and we could probably be fighting. I do see where Cyborg went with that.

Unfortunately, in the world we live in today there are cops and lawsuits, so you can’t just punch people. You have to find other ways to resolve your issues.

The best part of it is, Dana White has the video. He showed me at this thing, but I don’t know if he’s ever going to release it. It is hysterical the way I backtracked.

They were busting my balls but I have no shame. What am I going to do, step in there to Cyborg and say, ‘No, I will touch you’ and she kicks my ass? What am I gonna do kick her ass? Either way, I’m screwed.

What if she knocked me out? I may as well just retire then.

Chris Weidman fights Kelvin Gastelum on July 22, 2017 at UFC on Fox 25.