A year that began with the uncomfortable image of Robert Griffin III's knee buckling on the muddy Redskins Park field culminated in (hopefully) one final moment of agony in the athletic arena as Anderson Silva's lower leg twisting unnaturally after Chris Weidman checked Siva's kick to retain his UFC middleweight championship belt by injury TKO.
The year was bookended by RGIII and Anderson Silva, but let's not forget Kobe Bryant's achilles, Brook Lopez's foot, Russell Westbrook's thrice-torn right meniscus, Derrick Rose completing the unhappy triad knee injury cycle, Adrien Broner's pride and Kevin Ware's inexplicable tibia fracture, which you'd assume was CGI'd if you hadn't seen it live.
Apparently, those who were on the scene to witness the Silva-Weidman fight won't soon forget the ending 1:16 into the second round either.
Anderson hit Weidman's knee. His leg completely looks like jelly. Horrible. Corey Hill-esque. That's a horrendous fracture. Wow.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 29, 2013
Anderson is yelling at the top of his lungs on the stretcher backstage. I've never heard anything like that. A horrible sound.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 29, 2013
Weidman wished Silva the best in his recovery and praised his mixed martial arts acumen, but he also credited his training for allowing him to counter Silva's attacks.
"No matter what happened in this fight, he's still the greatest of all time. I wish him the best, and God bless him," Weidman said. "That was the No. 1 thing I got hit with the first fight. I worked a lot with guys with kicks. But it's still crazy how that happened. There was a point I was just thinking, 'Ref, stop the fight.' His eyes were in the back of his head for a lot of those punches."
Of course, Weidman may not have escaped the wrath of Silva's kick unscathed.
If you missed it, Weidman needs to get his knee checked. Maybe scope, maybe more. Meniscus injury, he believes.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 29, 2013
