Less than 24 hours ago Anderson Silva lay in agony on the Octagon floor after a freak incident in his rematch with Chris Weidman at UFC 168 left him with a badly broken leg, but thankfully he’s now in much better spirits.
“I want to thank all my fans and friends for their support and caring messages,” Silva wrote on Twitter (translated). “I’m fine now and I need to be with my family, a good rest with my children and wife will help me in recovery. Thank Brazil.”
Earlier, the UFC legend had also penned an apology to his native Brazilians for the unexpected outcome of the eagerly awaited second meeting between the former champion and the man who took the belt from him.
“Brazil, Im sorry to have let you down. I wanted to give my best I swear.”
The 38 year-old gave no indication of whether he now plans to retire, though a statement earlier in the day from the UFC understandably suggested that he would be taking time to recover before deciding on his future.
Silva had a pin inserted into his broken tibia last night and had his broken fibula straightened too, which will take up to six months to heal, and it’s likely to be at least a year before there would be any chance of him returning to fight again.
Whatever happens from this point forward there’s no doubt that Silva will go down as one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time.