Monday, December 30, 2013

Snap, Crackle, Pop

We've been chronicling gruesome sports injuries (that's your hint squeamish Poopheads) for many years here at the Poop and nothing may ever top the Kevin Ware injury in terms of national scope because it occurred in the NCAA Tournament with millions of people watching.
But, in terms of stature of athlete, Anderson Silva, unquestionably the greatest fighter in UFC history, is the biggest star we've ever cataloged in this space.
In his rematch fight with Chris Weidman, in an effort to regain the middleweight title he gave away in March by hot-dogging, Silva, lost the first round, and then early in the second round threw a leg kick. Weidman, who ate several leg kicks in the first fight, check the kick with his shin, and Silva's leg fractured.

Here's the moment of impact:



Here you can see the bone flopping around in his leg:



Immediately Silva went down in agony:



Immediately this was compared to the Corey Hill injury because it happened in exactly the same way, but in that fight, Hill was hopping around and Joe Rogan was screaming "STOP THE FIGHT!!!"

And again, this happened to a huge star in a title fight on a PPV bought by a million people.

Silva broke his fibula and tibia and immediately had them both surgically repaired. He's 38 and will be 39 (April 14) by the time he'll be healthy enough to fight again. I fully expect him to come back, fight once more next summer/fall and rematch Weidman about a year from now. But I wouldn't be shocked if the last image of this great champion is him lying on the mat screaming in agony as his lower leg hung loosely inside his skin. But it would be very sad.

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