UFC Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman found himself in a different kind of battle Thursday - one to save his 94-year-old neighbor's life.
The original plan for the rainy day was to pick up training partner Stephen Thompson and his brother from LaGuardia airport, but plans changed when he heard the cries of the elderly woman, according to Bleacher Report.
"So I was trying to clean out my car and it was a torrential downpour this morning," Weidman said. "So I'm cleaning it out and all of a sudden I started hearing this noise - 'Ahhh! Ahhh! Ahhh!'"
The 30-year-old fighter said he got outside and saw a figure down the block on the phone while standing in a driveway, and assumed someone else was making the noise since the person in the driveway didn't appear in a panick.
After returning to his car, he decided to drive back down when he hear the noise again, finding the woman when he arrived, MMAjunkie reported.
"She's in the middle of the driveway, soaking wet, yelling 'Help me, help me!" Weidman said. "So I jumped out of my car and run over, and she's completely engulfed in blood."
The woman said she fell and cut her head on a glass table in her house. Weidman said he brought the woman to his garage, where he called 911 twice. After being put on hold, he called a cop friend to come help.
"I'm trying to calm her down at the same time." Weidman said. "She's making crazy noises. I felt I almost had a fighter between rounds."
The fighter held paper towels over the woman's wounds, trying to keep her calm and her mind off the pain by talking her about normal topics like dogs, Bleacher Report said. She told him that she had five grandchildren and had the desire to live "one more year."
The paramedics finally arrived between 20 and 30 minutes later and brought the woman to a hospital. Weidman said that she responded normally while being taken away, but added that he isn't sure what her condition is at the moment. He added that he has a great amount of respect for first responders, paramedics and others tasked with saving people in need.
"They're the heroes and no one is hearing about it," Weidman said. "I just happened to be at the right place, right time."
Weidman added that his cop friend will see how the woman is doing, MMAjunkie reported. A picture of Weidman was posted on Instagram on Thursday by his wife, who told his story added a hashtag "myhero."
The incident is not the first to show Weidman's generosity, as it follows six months after he organized a fundraiser for Isaiah Hill, 6-year-old wrestler who was born without legs. The fundraiser made $14,000 with the goal of sending the child a state wrestling championship.
