“The minute I saw it and recognized it, I knew it was fixable. We are not even 48 hours from the surgery, and tibia fractures, though we can get them to heal, can have slower healing. So in general, my prognosis would be a fracture healing somewhere in the nature of three to six months. But there’s also soft tissue components that have to heal, and then of course a rehabilitative process as well.”

“In terms of the severity of the injury, it was, I would say, fairly severe. Fortunately for Anderson, the skin did not break. But where could an injury like that go? An injury like that could go where, as I mentioned, the skin breaks, and now you’ve got this exposed bone in the environment of an Octagon, and so his risk of infection goes up meteorically. He could have also twisted in such a different direction where he could’ve potentially lacerated an artery going to the foot, in which case you now have what we call vascular compromise. He could’ve, in that case, potentially needed a vascular reconstructive procedure to reattach an artery. Injuries like this can, at times, even be limb threatening. If the fracture is severe enough, if it compromises vascular supply to the feet and vascular supply cannot be reestablished, it can result in an amputation.”

Dr. Steven Sanders, the man responsible for putting ‘The Spider’ back together again, told the media on a conference call this week that Silva’s injury could have led to a full on amputation of his leg.

Luckily for Anderson, it appears as if a full recovery is expected and the former champ is already asking doctors when he can resume training.

If you missed the historic moment when the MMA GOAT broke his leg inside the cage, find it HERE.