Chris Weidman 'can't believe what happened' at UFC 261, vows to recover from leg break
Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman has provided an update after his gruesome leg break at UFC 261.
Just seconds into his fight with Uriah Hall on Saturday, Weidman (15-6 MMA, 11-6 UFC) snapped his right leg after throwing a kick that was checked by Hall. Upon planting his foot after the kick, Weidman’s foot folded, which sent him to the canvas writhing in pain.
Weidman underwent surgery Sunday morning and after his wife, Marivi Weidman, provided a positive update, Weidman took to Instagram to thank everyone for the well wishes, including former foe Anderson Silva, who sent him a heartfelt message.
“Trying to find the blessing in disguise and silver lining,” Weidman said. “Honestly, as soon as it happened and I hit the floor, seeing what happened to my leg and the pain started hitting me, I was just trying to put my mind on something positive and coming out of this. I’m hopeful that’s the thing that’s gonna come out of it that’s good. This is not fun. I can’t believe what happened.”
Although he didn’t directly address his fighting future, Weidman, who turns 37 in June, gave a timeline for his recovery and described what his procedure consisted of.
“It’s pretty brutal, but I’m gonna get through this. I think it’s gonna be eight weeks until I could walk without crutches and stuff and drive and all that. And then as far as actual training, I don’t know,” Weidman said. “They said between six and 12 months I’ll be good to go. …
“Surgery was successful. They put a titanium rod through the tibia. So they go through the knee, and they take the rod and they drill it through the tibia to make it straight and hard. My fibula was broken, as well, but I guess when they put the tibia back together and my leg was straight, the fibula kind of matched back up to where it was broken, and they feel that could heal on it’s own as long as I’m not putting weight on it and stuff.”
Weidman’s injury is one of the most horrifically ironic things to happen inside the cage in UFC history, as Silva was on the receiving end of the same injury against Weidman at UFC 168 in 2013.