Chris Weidman remains the UFC’s middleweight champion tonight, but his fight with Anderson Silva ended in the most unfortunate of circumstances after the Brazilian superstar broke his leg early in the second round.
Round One:
This eagerly awaited rematch is finally underway. The two men size each other up from distance. A front kick from Weidman gets things going and soon after he moves in and lands an early takedown.
Silva’s right back up to his feet against the cage though, but Weidman keeps a hold of him. Silva fires off a knee. There’s a bit of space and Weidman launches a knee and then Silva gets a few off.
Weidman lands a blow to the back of Silva’s ear and it seems to rock Silva and he falls to the mat! Weidman starts raining down heavy blows to his still dazed opponent and he looks very close to finishing this fight already.
Anderson isn’t out yet though and starts weaving from side to side on his back to try to escape some of these blows, but a good few are still connecting hard.
Finally Silva manages to close guard and buy himself some time to recover. That was very close!
Weidman looks strong on top and while he’s now fighting at a slightly more measured pace, at times he’s posturing up and landing more hard shots.
With a minute left in the round Silva lands some hammerfists and elbows from his back. Weidman is now sporting a cut, but he responds by slamming down a hard elbow. Weidman stands up and drops a punch back down to end the round.
Round Two:
Silva backs up as Weidman presses forward. Silva lands a leg kick.
Weidman taking the center of the Octagon and looking to push the pace, but it’s Silva who then comes forward with a punch that doesn’t land.
No hijinx from Silva on the feet here, keeping his guard up and fighting in a more traditional striking style.
Suddenly Silva throws a kick which Weidman checks and then there’s an absolutely horrific, sickening moment as the former champion’s leg simply snaps like a twig during the impact, with replays showing his limb to be pointing at an impossible angle moments after the strike.
Silva falls to the mat clutching his leg in agony and this fight is over in the worst possible circumstances.
On top of that, this gruesome injury could well spell the end of Anderson Silva’s remarkable career, and if so it’ll go down as one of the most tragic moments in MMA history.
Nonetheless, Chris Weidman remains champion and it’s now a brave new world in the UFC’s middleweight division heading into 2014.
Read the latest update on Silva’s condition HERE.
