Anderson Silva Broken Leg Update: Dana White Unsure Of Anderson Silva's Future After Breaking Leg In Rematch With Chris Weidman

By Paul John Rivera| Dec 31, 2013

UFC president Dana White is unsure about the future of Anderson Silva after the Brazilian MMA superstar broke his leg during his UFC 168 rematch with Chris Weidman on Saturday in Las Vegas.

"Maybe he'll want to make a comeback, but who knows," White said in an interview with MMA Fighting. "We'll see what happens. I don't want to count him out. I don't want to count him in. The important thing is he gets the surgery and heals up."

Silva broke his left tibia and fibula during the second round of his rematch with Weidman when he unleashed a powerful leg kick.

After sustaining the gruesome injury, the fighter who is regarded as the best in UFC history went down, screaming in pain. White expressed his admiration for Silva, but he stressed out that it will be difficult for any fighter to comeback from an injury of that magnitude.

"I'm a big fan. I have been since he came here. It's one of those crazy things, in a million years, you don't expect that. That'll be a tough thing to come back from," White said.

Silva underwent successful surgery after the fight. UFC orthopedic surgeon Steven Sanders, who performed the operation, said that the 38-year-old Brazilian is a facing a long recovery period, but he pointed out that Silva can make a comeback if he decides to do so.

"When the fracture heals, the bone will achieve its original strength. In addition, it will also have a titanium rod that is 11.5 millimeters in diameter shoring up that area. Whether a fighter returns after injury can be multifactorial, but from a bone perspective, when the fracture heals, you can start to test the soft tissue," Sanders said in an ESPN interview.

Sanders, who added that he inserted a titanium rod into the broken fibula, insisted that Silva is lucky despite the freak injury because the damage could have been worse based on the force of impact of the devastating kick.

"As many people have seen, you can see the dramatic way in which there was an abnormal bend in the leg where it's not supposed to bend," Sanders said. "An injury like that can go to where the skin breaks, and then you have this exposed bone in the environment of the Octagon. His risk for infection goes up meteoric. It could have twisted in such a direction that lacerated an artery to the foot, and he could have needed a vascular reconstruction procedure."

Silva, who holds a UFC record of 16 consecutive wins, failed to avenge his huge upset knockout loss to Weidman in the second round of their first showdown in July.

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