UFC 168: Anderson Silva in good spirits, asking when he can train again after surgery for broken leg

Neil Davidson, Canadian Press | December 30, 2013 | Last Updated: Dec 30 9:00 PM ET
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Sam Morris/The Las Vegas Sun/The Associated PressAnderson Silva, who up until his upset loss to Chris Weidman in July at UFC 162 was considered the top pound-for-pound fighter on the planet, collapsed in agony.

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TORONTO — While most of those in the stands undoubtedly recoiled when they saw Anderson’s Silva’s gruesome leg break Saturday night at UFC 168 in Las Vegas, Steven Sanders had a different thought cageside.

UFC 168: Miesha Tate stands in the way of Ronda Rousey’s perfect year

“The only question I had in my mind was how low down on the leg was the fracture,” the UFC’s orthopedic surgeon recalled in a media conference call Monday. “Because the level of the fracture influences my thinking as to what type of orthopedic device I’m going to need to fix it.

“But the minute it occurred, I’m sitting there going ‘That’s fixable.”‘

Amazingly, less than 48 hours after surgery to insert a titanium rod and three screws in his left tibia, the 38-year-old Brazilian was up on crutches, accorded to the surgeon.

“It’s amazing because I don’t know if I would be able to do it that quickly,” said Sanders.

Related

• Anderson Silva has surgery on broken leg, but ‘no immediate decision’ on future after gruesome injury at UFC 168
• UFC 168: Anderson Silva breaks leg on kick attempt as Chris Weidman retains middleweight title

And the surgeon said Silva’s question prior to the operation was when could he train again.

Still the former middleweight champion is spending most of his time in his hospital bed, at this stage, with his leg in a posterior splint.

“He’s behaving as anyone would who had just broke both their bones violently and then had a 11.5-millimetre-diameter rod stuck down the intramedullary canal of your tibia. It hurts quite a bit,” Sanders said.

The fighter is expected to stay in hospital for a few more days and faces a long recovery before he could compete in the cage again. But Sanders says Silva will eventually be able to resume mixed martial arts.

The surgeon expects the fighter’s fractures to heal in three to six months, with a time frame of six to nine months before trying to resume training.

“The expectation is positive,” Sanders said.

Silva (33-6) will be able to do some rehab work, to put some weight on the leg “in the near future as we get though this acute pain phase.”

Saturday’s fight was stopped at 1:16 of the second round, with current middleweight champion Chris Weidman declared the winner as doctors attended to a writhing Silva.

Silva broke both the tibia and fibula in his lower left leg kicking Weidman in the main event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Weidman checked the kick, meaning Silva went bone-on-bone.

No Anderson’s last fight will not change my psychology towards kicking at all, that was just an extremely unfortunate situation

His leg snapped about a third of the way up the tibia from the ankle, causing his essentially untethered ankle and foot to swing around Weidman’s leg in an stomach-churning moment.

Silva, who up until his upset loss to Weidman in July at UFC 162 was considered the top pound-for-pound fighter on the planet, collapsed in agony. Sanders called it “horrific pain.”

Sanders said Dr. Anthony Ruggeroli immediately realigned the limb and applied traction, helping prevent the injury from getting worse. Silva was stretchered outside the cage under the direction of Dr. Jeff Davidson and taken to a waiting ambulance, which transported him to University Medical Centre Hospital, a Level 1 trauma centre.

The operation lasted about an hour, with the rod inserted into his leg at the front of the knee, with a screw at the top and two at the bottom to stabilize the bone.

David Becker/The Associated PressWith one kick Anderson Silva's legendary mixed martial arts career may have come to an end.

While the fibula was also broken, Sanders elected not to operate on that bone because it would have required an incision at the site of the break, opening Silva up to the risk of infection — among other reasons.

Sanders says the fibula could heal on its own, adding he saw no evidence from X-rays there was an predisposition to a break.

The surgeon called Silva’s fracture “fairly severe,” given the fact that the skin was essentially holding the leg together. That means the tissues that normally surround the bone, and help with the healing, have undergone trauma.

The soft tissue recovery is “more of a variable” than the bone repair, said Sanders.

He’s behaving as anyone would who had just broke both their bones violently and then had a 11.5-millimetre-diameter rod stuck down the intramedullary canal of your tibia

The injury, while horrific to watch, could have been worse, with Sanders listing off the elements of a worse case scenario — a break near the joint, the skin breaking, tearing a blood vessel challenging blood supply to the foot.

“Unfortunately in my line of work, things can always sometimes be worse,” he said.

That includes “limb-threatening” if the fracture compromises vascular support to the foot.

Silva’s dramatic injury — which Sanders pithily described as “an abnormal bend in the leg at a place where it’s not supposed to bend” — was “extremely close” to being much worse.

On the plus side, the straight nature of the break will help in rehab, since a spiral fracture can “unwind.” And the surgeon said the rehab won’t be as intense as when fighters injure knee ligaments.

David Becker/The Associated PressAnderson Silva, of Brazil screams, after kicking Chris Weidman and injuring his leg during the UFC 168 mixed martial arts middleweight championship bout on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2013, in Las Vegas.

The titanium rod can be removed at a later date or can stay in Silva’s leg, Sanders added. “For whatever reason, humans like titanium.”

Sanders has worked with the UFC for more than a decade and has practised in Las Vegas since 1991, working with boxers prior to MMA fighters.

Silva’s injury recalled that of Corey Hill, who broke his leg while throwing a kick that was checked by Dale Hartt on a UFC card in December 2008. Hill returned to action in January 2010 and has gone 4-3 since, although not in the UFC.

UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon (Bones) Jones said Silva’s injury will not change his approach to fighting.

“No Anderson’s last fight will not change my psychology towards kicking at all, that was just an extremely unfortunate situation,” Jones tweeted.

UFC 168: Anderson Silva breaks leg on kick attempt as Chris Weidman retains middleweight title

Greg Beacham, Associated Press | December 29, 2013 | Last Updated: Dec 30 9:07 AM ET

LAS VEGAS — Chris Weidman accepted his UFC middleweight title belt with a grimace and a furtive look over his shoulder. Anderson Silva writhed and screamed on the canvas behind him, his left leg grotesquely broken by a kick to Weidman’s knee.

Weidman defended his title when Silva broke his shin on a kick to Weidman’s knee in the second round Saturday night, ending UFC 168 with a horrific injury.The champ couldn’t celebrate after the UFC’s year-end show ended with a stark reminder of the brutality at the core of this flashy, fast-growing sport.

While Weidman (11-0) awkwardly acknowledged his victory, the MGM Grand Garden crowd watched with reverence and horror as medical personnel tended to Silva (33-6), whose shin bent to a 90-degree angle after Weidman blocked his kick 1:16 into the round.

“There’s no real excitement in a fight finishing like that, because you never want to see anyone get hurt like that,” Weidman said after his second straight win over the long-reigning champion.

Weidman, who earned his belt with an upset victory in July, also dominated the first round of the rematch, pinning Silva to the mat and punishing him with blows. In the second, Weidman used his knee to stop Silva’s kick with perfect mixed martial arts technique, never anticipating the result.

“I did work on checking kicks,” Weidman said. “I figured if I (caught) him on my knee, it could really hurt him. Crazy how this happened.”

Ronda Rousey also retained her bantamweight title on arguably the UFC’s most anticipated show of the year, submitting Miesha Tate with a third-round arm bar. Rousey then walked away from her bitter rival’s offer of a post-fight handshake, earning ferocious boos from the Vegas fight crowd.

But Rousey’s questionable sportsmanship was dwarfed by the unquestionably awful finish to the main event.

Although the injury happened too quickly to be seen by most naked eyes in Las Vegas, the sound of Silva’s cracking shin could be heard at cageside. Thousands of fans cringed and moaned when the replay was shown on the arena’s big screens.

“I knew coming into the fight that what he could hurt me most with was the leg kicks,” Weidman said. “We trained checking the kick a lot. The idea is to pull your leg and for their shin to land at the knee. That’s exactly what I did, and I felt his leg go right away.”

Referee Herb Dean waved off the fight when Silva fell back, clutching his leg with both hands. Silva left the octagon strapped to a stretcher with a brace on his leg, screaming in pain.

With his belt back around his waist, Weidman paid tribute to the injured ex-champion.

“He’s still known as the greatest fighter of all time,” Weidman said.

David Becker/The Associated PressTravis Browne reacts after defeating Josh Barnett during their heavyweight bout at UFC 168 on Saturday in Las Vegas. Browne won by a knockout in the first round.

Silva’s nearly seven-year reign atop the middleweight division ended nearly six months ago when Weidman stopped the preening, posturing champion with a left hook at UFC 162.

With two straight wins, the former Hofstra wrestler has firmly ended Silva’s reign. The injury in the rematch conceivably could end the 38-year-old Brazilian’s MMA career.

The show was heavy on violent finishes. Heavyweight Travis Browne knocked out veteran Josh Barnett in the first round with a series of elbows to the head, earning the third straight early stoppage on the pay-per-view portion of the card.

Before the unsettling main event, Rousey (8-0) got the biggest test of her ascendant career.

Rousey had never seen the second round of an MMA fight, but Tate tested the champion with striking and tenacity. Although Rousey repeatedly tossed Tate (13-5) to the canvas and pounded on her, Rousey couldn’t finish until getting her weary opponent into her patented arm bar — the submission move she has used to end each of her eight professional fights.

“I respect Miesha very much as a competitor,” said Rousey, who feels Tate insulted her family. “But I can’t respect a fighter who did what she did, and I cannot shake her hand because of it.”

David Becker/The Associated PressRonda Rousey punches Miesha Tate during their women's bantamweight title fight at UFC 168 on Saturday in Las Vegas. Rousey won by a third round submission.

Tate landed plenty of strikes to Rousey’s head, particularly during a thrilling first round in which she tested Rousey’s chin. Rousey gradually wore down Tate and finally finished her, violently bending her elbow and forcing Tate to tap out.

“Going more than one round was a good experience,” Rousey said. “I needed that experience in the octagon, and as my mom said, better to get it in a win than in a loss.”

But when Tate attempted to shake her hand, Rousey slowly rose and walked away. The crowd booed vociferously when the replay of the snub was shown in slow motion, but Rousey didn’t apologize.

Nearly two years ago, Rousey defeated Tate by first-round arm bar to claim Tate’s Strikeforce title, cementing her meteoric rise from the U.S. Olympic judo team to the apex of MMA. Rousey and Tate have made no secret of their distaste since that bout, further stoked by their combative appearance as coaches on the most recent season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” the UFC’s competition reality show.

“In judo, I didn’t know what a cheer was,” Rousey said. “Cheers are what’s new.”