The UFC’s Biggest Break?

(Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports)

 

Over the last couple of days and in the weeks/months/years to come you’re going to read a lot about Anderson Silva’s broken leg and how devastating it is to UFC.  But is that really the case?  Let us investigate from a different point of view and how it impacts key people.

 

Anderson Silva

 

Silva gets to retire. At 38 now, he would likely be 40 if he embarks on a comeback (which I doubt), he was ready to be done.  The first fight with Chris Weidman was proof enough of that. He wanted out… now he gets to go out – perhaps not on his own terms – but he gets to step away without Dana White, fans etc… constantly pressuring him to take on superfights and more competitors.  This injury allows him something even better then picking his own retirement date – a peaceful retirement and you can’t put a price on that. 

 

Chris Weidman

 

Chris Weidman benefits from this in two major ways. First, it helps to validate his belt – Weidman clearly took Round 1 and NOBODY thought Silva was screwing around in that round. Showing he could hang with a focused, determined Silva in that one round will go a long way to legitimize his championship in enough peoples mind to reduce (if not completely eliminate) the asterisk beside his belt.  Second, in the post fight press conference he spoke about the specific tactic that he used which lead to the broken leg. He knew he wanted to focus on the kicks of Silva, so he learned/trained a way to not only limit the effectiveness of the kicks but make leg checks an offensive weapon. He could be credited for a whole “new” move.  

 

Anderson Silva’s Legacy

 

As an added bonus for Silva his legacy will always be intact. Both losses to Weidman will always have an asterisk beside them in the minds of Silva’s biggest fans. People will always get to debate about what the next rounds would have looked like, how many more fights he had in him, what those superfights would have looked like.  A career cut one to three fights short due to an injury, with a questionable loss to take away his belt, couldn’t be a better finish from a legacy standpoint. Fans/bloggers get to debate these things forever – which is WAY better then seeing the fights take place. Once a superfight happens the argument is over… we actually get to debate “the rest” of the Silva vs Weidman 2 fight because we only got a taste!  

 

UFC

 

The UFC got its rematch – which is a nice payday for them. It got a new star in Weidman. It has a more legitimized champion in its new star. It gets a legend in Silva’s legacy AND it gets the possibility of a comeback with another huge payday.