UFC
Anderson Silva discusses leg break at UFC 168, doesn't think Chris Weidman should consider it a win
Jan 13, 2014 - 12:10:55 PM Anderson Silva discusses leg break at UFC 168, doesn't think Chris Weidman should consider it a win

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

In the immediate moments following Anderson Silva's leg breaking at UFC 168, there was nothing but fear for the future, and concern for Silva as he lay writhing in pain on the canvas. Fast forward a couple of weeks, and Silva's still dealing with the pain, but more determined than ever to make a comeback from it as well.

"The only thing I was thinking was 'is it over? Will I walk again?'" Silva said in an interview with Globo in Brazil (translated and transcribed by Guilherme Cruz at MMAFighting.com). "I was scared that I wouldn't walk again. Many things were going through my head at that moment. I'm 38 now, and I will be 39 in April. That's what I'm afraid of, but I'm confident that I will. I will be back."

"[You should stop fighting] when you feel you need to stop, when your body and head says that. I think I still have a lot of things to do. I don't plan to stop now. I'm getting stronger every day, and I will be back soon."

His resolve hasn't made this easy on him, of course. Silva admitted that he's had his wife drive him around the streets of Los Angeles to reflect and cry away from his children, and he's left questioning why it happened and what lessons he's to learn from this adversity.

"When I landed the kick I heard a loud noise, the sound of a bone breaking, and the pain was huge. And since I left the hospital, I can't sleep," he said. "It's really hard. I think about it, and I wondered why. 'Why, my God, I had to go through all this?' I wonder which message He's trying to teach me at this moment."

When he does return, Silva would like to get back in the cage with Chris Weidman, as he doesn't believe UFC 168 was anything more than a freak accident. He credits Weidman for instinctively checking the kick that he threw, but thinks without the leg break he was going to avenge his UFC 162 loss.

"I believe that, if you pay attention to these technical details, you will see that [checking the kick] was instinct, not something that he trained to do," Silva said. "No, I don't think [Weidman should consider it a win]. It was an accident. And I'm pretty sure I would have won the fight."

"I can see some technical mistakes I did in the fight," he continued. "To land the perfect kick, I needed to distract him by punching him in the face so he wouldn't pay attention to the kick. He was protecting the upper part of his body, and the raised leg instinctively. The kick was so strong he lost balance."

"I saw my mistake, and now I'm only worried about my comeback. If the UFC thinks I deserve another opportunity [against Weidman] or if I need to earn it. I just want to do what I do, it doesn't matter if it's for the title or not. I want to do what I do well."

Penick's Analysis: Whether you think he could have surged back after that brutal first round and won the fight or not, the fact of the matter is a freak broken leg ended that fight. Chris Weidman may have destroyed him anyway if the fight had continued, but he also may not have, and those lingering questions give the UFC an easy sell for a third fight when Silva does return. That's not their only option, and it may not be the route they go, but it is entirely possible that Silva's return fight comes in a third bout with Weidman. Beyond that, an injury like this is clearly mentally taxing, and that's something Silva's going to have to recover from as much as he is from the break itself. He's going to have to get to the point where he trusts that leg again to throw the attacks he wants to throw, and no matter whom he returns against, that's going to be an issue for him personally. For now, he'll be on the mend for the better part of 2014, and from there he can try to get himself into fight mode for 2015.

[Anderson Silva art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]