UFC Legend & Islanders Fan Wouldn’t Wear Or Promote Rangers Jersey During UFC Fight Week At Madison Square Garden

UFC Champion Chris Weidman was set for a promotion event at Madison Square Garden for a New York Rangers game.

He refused to wear the Rangers jersey.

"When I came out here on Tuesday, the UFC was trying to get me to go to the Rangers game, and they wanted me to wear the Rangers jersey and all that stuff and go on the ice or whatever," Weidman said. "Put me on the jumbotron.

Weidman is from Baldwin on Long Island and grew up a fan of the New York Islanders. He takes the New York hockey rivalry very seriously and shared that while on the Jake Asman Show.

There was no way Weidman would support the Islanders' biggest rival. "I actually said I can't do it. I'm not going," Weidman said.

Those not tied into the rivalry do not understand. Weidman stood his ground.

"And people think I'm crazy. It's a great promotion. You know, you go on the jumbotron at MSG and all that, and I'm like, I can't put a Rangers jersey on," Weidman said. "And I know they're going to want to put it on me, so I couldn't do it."

Weidman shared that it is different for other New York teams. He believes if you are from Long Island, you should support their only major professional sports team. "I root for every other New York team; When it comes to the Islanders, and I grew up around tons of Rangers fans who live on Long Island, and they always piss me off," Weidman said.

"I just never got that. We have one damn team. Freaking support them!"

For many years, Weidman has donned the Blue and Orange to support the Islanders, including appearing at many home games.

“I was a huge Islanders fan in the 90s,” Weidman said, days before he’s to meet Kelvin Gastelum in a critical middleweight bout on Saturday at NYCB LIVE’s Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. “I always wanted to be an NHL hockey player, but in junior high, my parents couldn’t afford ice hockey any longer, so I stopped following it and stopped playing it.”

Weidman attended Hofstra University in Hempstead, where he wrestled at the Division One level with much success just across the street from the Islanders' longtime home, the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

“I was planning to try out for the Islanders after I didn’t make the Olympic [wrestling] team in 2008,” Weidman said. “I bought all the equipment, and I was serious about it. I went down to the rink, but it didn’t work out. I wasn’t the player I was. I got thrown around by little high school kids.” (H/t Kevin Lole).

In UFC, Weidman is a four-time Middleweight Champion and the current champion of the weight class.

Weidman remained the champion on Saturday night because he never got the chance to drop the gloves with his opponent.

With his success, he is always true to his roots and will continue to have the support of all Islanders fans when he backs his hometown team.