Rather than deal with the most horrific injury of his career privately, as expected, former pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva has chosen to document the gruesome broken leg he suffered at UFC 168.
Just 10 days ago, “The Spider” fell to the ground in agony after watching middleweight champ Chris Weidman check one of his low kicks and, in the process, snap his tibia and fibula in one terrifying motion.
Silva underwent successful emergency surgery in Las Vegas the night of the fight. He left Las Vegas three days later to return to his home in Los Angeles.
Yesterday, the typically introverted Silva posted the latest photo of his recovery process via Instagram.
The man who performed Silva’s surgery, Dr. Steven Sanders, repaired his splintered tibia with a titanium rod.
Sanders pointed out on an episode of SiriusXM’s Tapout Radio that The Spider may need a 12-month recovery period before he can consider throwing a low kick.
From a pure physical perspective of the bone, optimistically, yes we would like to see his bones heal over a three to nine month period of time. Then, you of course have the soft tissues around the bone, and that is obviously going to remain a sensitive area. So I guess there are gradations of what his activity level will be and he will be dictating a lot of that to us as the next following months unfold. I would not have anyone with that injury—regardless of the patient—no one would be involved in a striking type, or high contact sport to that area. Easily could be anywhere from six to 12 months.
Before shattering Silva’s leg, Weidman served The Spider his first defeat with the promotion and first career knockout at UFC 162. Silva was riding a 16-fight UFC winning streak heading into UFC 162, one that included 11 wins in title fights.
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