Chris Weidman retained his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight title in shocking fashion after challenger Anderson “The Spider” Silva suffered a gruesome leg injury in the second round of their fight in the main event of UFC 168.
Silva threw a left leg kick that was checked by Weidman, and the Brazilian legend clearly injured his leg in with the strike, as he immediately fell back with his lower leg dangling at an odd angle.
The fight was stopped at the 1:16 mark of the second round, and Weidman was declared the winner via technical knockout.
“No matter what happened in this fight, he’s still known as the greatest of all time, so props to Anderson Silva and God bless him,” said Weidman, who shocked the UFC world when he knocked out Silva in their first encounter last July.
Silva was not made available for a post-fight interview and left the Octagon on a stretcher, according to reports from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
One reporter, Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting, tweeted that the Brazilian was “yelling at the top of his lungs on the stretcher back stage.”
Silva, who won 16 consecutive UFC fights before losing to Weidman in July, caught flak for “clowning” inside the Octagon, as Weidman caught him with his hands down and knocked him out.
There was no clowning around from the “Spider” this time around, but Weidman still connected on him in the first round that sent Silva on his back.
Silva was not knocked out, but Weidman spent most of the first round landing elbows from the top position. Silva managed to sneak in an occasional elbow but was clearly on the defensive.
The Brazilian tried to be more aggressive in the second round, landing an inside leg kick early. Weidman was able to block his other kicks, however, including the one that snapped Silva’s left shin.
“That was the number one thing that I got hit with in the first fight,” Weidman said, referring to Silva’s leg kicks. “I was working on checking him a lot.”
Despite his victory, Weidman also looked subdued in the post-fight interview, and said he never expected that Silva would break his leg. “It’s still crazy how that happened,” he said.
Weidman is now 11-0 in his UFC career. Silva has lost back-to-back fights for the first time after winning his first 16 matches inside the Octagon.
WATCH UFC 168: Anderson Silva vs Chris Weidman 2 Full Fight Replay Video:
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