Chris Weidman: 'Anyone saying I celebrated when Anderson Silva's leg snapped is entirely wrong'

When Chris Weidman broke his leg this past Saturday at UFC 263, many people jumped to say it was karma.

Weidman (15-6 MMA, 11-6 UFC), who had his right leg snapped after throwing a kick that was checked by Uriah Hall, was on the receiving end of the same injury that Anderson Silva suffered when Weidman checked his leg kick in their December 2013 rematch at UFC 168.

As soon as Silva went down, then-middleweight champion Weidman threw his hands up in celebration, an action for which he was heavily criticized at the time. But Weidman said that he initially had no idea Silva suffered such a gruesome injury and went to console him as soon as he realized what actually happened.

Weidman felt the need to explain himself Tuesday after some people unfortunately reveled in his horrific leg break, as though it was karma for the way he handled Silva’s injury.

https://t.co/zILGts30y5 pic.twitter.com/QOwGEjCd6y

— Chris Weidman (@chrisweidman) April 27, 2021

“Anyone saying I celebrated when Anderson’s leg snapped is entirely wrong. I didn’t know his leg snapped. I just thought I checked his leg kick good, and he went down in pain, which often happens in sparring. Painful for a short time, but gets better quickly – kind of like a body shot. After circling the octagon, I realized that he was in severe pain by his yelling and immediately went and checked on him and tried to console him. That’s when I noticed him holding his leg in place. There was no happiness on my behalf from that point on. I then went and pushed security out of the way so his coaches could get into the octagon and he could have some familiar faces next to him during that horrific event.”

Following Weidman’s injury, Silva took to social media to wish him a speedy recovery, which Weidman was very appreciative of. In his most recent update, Weidman shared the positive news that he’s moving around with a walker just three days later and is expected to be discharged from the hospital Tuesday, He’ll fly home in a private jet courtesy of UFC president Dana White.

“Update day number 2.
The PT team got me to walk with a walker today. Not fun. Also, my bladder numbers were high, and I couldn’t go to the bathroom, so they told me I would have to get a catheter. I don’t want that, so I told them to give me an hour, and if I couldn’t do it by then, they could do Catheter. Thank God I was able to get it done. After deep concentration for an hour, I could pee that out, so I didn’t have to get the catheter. The reason why it was so hard is that I’m doing it lying down, and I have Anesthesia and pain killers in me. #ufc261 #recovery”