UFC 168 Ends on Gruesome Leg Injury

29 Dec, 2013

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.

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.

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.

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.

AP

Photo:AP

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