Anderson Silva has expressed his sympathy for his former rival Chris Weidman after he suffered a broken leg last week. 

Weidman's injury, which he sustained during his loss to Uriah Hall at UFC 261, was eerily similar to the one Silva suffered in their second meeting in 2013.

The Brazilian-born star, 45, headed into their first title fight as the UFC middleweight champion, but he was usurped by Weidman after being stopped in a surprise upset.

And although Weidman would win their highly-anticipated rematch Silva, who was released by the UFC in November 2020, takes no joy out of Weidman's current predicament. 

"To tell you the truth, I don’t watch MMA fights anymore," Silva said to Ag Fight. "I only heard about it because my sons were watching with some friends. They were like ‘Dad, did you see what happened?’. Then a bunch of people started calling me. I was watching something else. When they sent me a video, I was like ‘Damn, man.’ It’s a movie played in my head. It was really, really bad. I felt really sad, really upset. There are no words. I was just sad. I was down."

"It felt like it happened to me again," he added. "Really bad. Only a person who has gone through that knows what it is like, and they wouldn’t wish it on anybody. I was really upset."

Weidman was taken out of the Octagon on a stretcher and given oxygen at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, after his leg snapped while throwing a leg kick. 

He was carried out of the arena to a standing ovation from the crowd moments later.

Silva also offered his old foe some words of advice and wished him a speedy recovery.

He continued: "The coming days, months, will be hard. He’ll need to be patient, he’ll have to be very calm. He needs to have his family with him, because it won’t be easy. A thousand things go through your mind. Of course everyone has their personality, but I believe he’ll overcome this. His mind is very strong. He has the mind of a champion. He knows how to handle adversities and I’m sure he’ll get through this. Soon enough well see him fighting again."

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