The gruesome leg injury Anderson Silva suffered at the hands of Chris Weidman nearly a year ago could have easily been avoided, according to Anthony Pettis.
The reigning UFC lightweight champ, a black belt in kickboxing and taekwondo, spoke in detail with Peter Rosenberg of Realer Sports about the “amateur mistake” that almost cost Silva his career and struck fear into kickers all over the world:
It was kind of an amateur mistake. I mean, he kicked a check, and that’s like a basic kickboxing move. I mean, he’s probably done that a million times in his life, and that was just the wrong time to do it. The wrong angle, the wrong pressure. But that doesn’t really make me kick differently. I think it looked ugly. It was nasty. But that’s like saying in basketball when somebody twists their ankle, or breaks their ankle, ‘You can’t dunk like that because he did it that way.’
The basic knee check, which Weidman calls “The Devastator,” is a defensive method used by fighters to catch kicks.
In the first bout at UFC 162, Silva tore at Weidman’s legs with kick after kick without any worry of defensive repercussions. Weidman would still win the fight by knockout, but after the victory, he went back to the drawing board and improved his defense against leg kicks for the inevitable rematch at UFC 168.
As predicted, Silva came into the rematch with the mentality of destroying Weidman’s legs. The difference this time was Weidman’s ability to block the kicks with his knee. Silva, who is widely regarded as the greatest fighter in MMA history, stubbornly forced kick after kick without any real attempt to disguise his intentions or set anything up.
That made it easier for Weidman to hang back and intercept his offense. It didn’t take long for Silva to land at an awkward angle and snap his leg across Weidman’s knee. Fans watched in horror as the MMA legend fell to the canvas, letting out bloodcurdling screams while clutching his injured leg.
It was a scene many hope to soon forget.
Thankfully, The Spider has since made a full recovery, and he is scheduled to return to the UFC to fight Nick Diaz in January.
As for Pettis, he is slated to make his Octagon return after a year layoff and defend his UFC title for the first time against Gilbert Melendez on Saturday night at UFC 181.
Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com