The Shockwaves Of Anderson Silva’s Broken Leg

The big question on everyone’s mind right now is whether Anderson Silva will make a successful comeback after breaking his leg against UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman at UFC 168. And in order to answer this question, you have to consider whether Silva will be physically capable of making a comeback after surgery, and secondly, will he have the burning desire to compete again and regain his title?

Early reports from Silva’s surgeon (Dr. Steven Sanders) indicate that despite suffering a significant leg injury, Silva will make a full recovery within 3-6 months time.  And while some may be a little skeptical about Silva’s ability to compete at a high level again, attention should be directed to the serious motorcycle accident that Frank Mir suffered in 2004 in which he broke his femur bone in two places and tore all the ligaments in his knee. Mir’s injuries were horrendous, yet he garnered the mental fortitude to come back and compete inside the Octagon only 17 months later.

So I ask the fans this question, if Silva broke his leg during a sparring session would you feel differently about the injury and his career prospects as you do today? Should we look at this injury any differently to the injury of Dominick Cruz, or perhaps even the facial reconstruction surgery of Rich Franklin. If there is anything we can learn from this incident is that significant injuries are unfortunately normal and indiscriminate across many professional sports.

That leaves us with the question as to whether Silva has the burning desire to compete again, and that’s really a question that only Anderson can answer himself. However, would an injury of this nature break a man’s spirit who terrorized a division for almost seven years? If the rehabilitation is a success, why would Anderson want to retire after only months earlier signing the most lucrative 10-fight contract in UFC history, a contract Dana described as the “Floyd Mayweather Jr. contract for our sport”?

Despite the broken leg at UFC 168, Silva still possesses amazing reflexes, speed, agility and striking. For a man who has dedicated his life to the sport, it is difficult to imagine a healthy Silva in 6 months time sitting on the sidelines and dwelling over what could have been with the promise of further multimillion-dollar paydays.

So Lowkickers, how have your feelings changed since the fight? Will we see Silva make a comeback and cash in on the lucrative 10-fight contract he worked so hard to earn?

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!