Earlier today we passed along the unfortunate news (we’ll get through this together) that Wanderlei Silva will no longer fight Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116, due to reports that the legendary fighter had sustained a rib injury while training. Well, in a follow up report from Fighters Only Magazine, Silva informed the publication that in fact, prior to breaking three of his ribs, he suffered a serious knee injury.
“I am here to talk about my last few days. I went through a very tense and difficult weekend and had a very hard decision. Two weeks ago I felt pain in my knee while I was training wrestling. I had an MRI of my knee and three doctors told me my knee was torn. I took medicine to help with the pain, and although my knee felt loose, I said “no,” this date is very important to me and I continued training,” Silva says.
“The Axe Murderer” goes on to say in the interview that he tried to push through the knee injury, but that “Last Friday, during sparring, I injured my rib. It was very painful and the next day I had an x-ray and an MRI. I discovered I had three broken ribs.” Considering that Akiyama has spent years tossing human bodies around on a judo mat like they were bean bags, in addition to possessing a pretty solid punch (see bout with Denis Kang), we’re siding with Wanderlei on this one.
Silva will likely be on the shelf for a little while as the former Pride champ revealed his knee will require surgery. To wager a lil something, something on how his replacement Chris Leben will fair against Akiyama, head here.