Chris Weidman Broke His Leg On His First Strike At UFC 261

Seven years after Anderson Silva snapped his leg against Chris Weidman, the latter was the victim of the same gruesome, unfortunate injury just seconds into his UFC 261 fight against Uriah Hall.

More than a decade after their first fight, Weidman and Hall’s showdown was one of the most compelling bouts in the middleweight division. After snapping a two-fight losing streak with a win over Omari Akhedov in August, Weidman was on a journey back into title contention with his eyes on Israel Adesanya’s crown. Instead, he’ll look to make a recovery similar to Silva, with what he hopes are different results. Silva, who fractured both his fibula and tibia at UFC 168 in December 2013, spent more than two years away recovering and rehabilitating following the injury. He returned to the UFC and fought for another four years, winning just once before retiring following a knockout loss to Hall in October 2020.

Weidman’s leg looked eerily similar as everyone in the arena and at home immediately knew how awful the injury was as it happened live.

(WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO BELOW)

After the fight, Weidman was stretchered to the back with in tears with his leg stabilized and a towel covering the injury, and acknowledged the crowd from the stretcher.

Hall was understandably shaken up as they tended to Weidman, kneeling in front of his corner. Hall was then interviewed in the Octagon by Joe Rogan, saying he has nothing but respect for Weidman, adding that he introduced him to fear as the first fighter to defeat him.

Hopefully Weidman will be able to make a full recovery, but fight fans are unfortunately aware of just how long and difficult the road to recovery from such an injury can be.