If someone would have told you he or she had predicted that exact outcome from Saturday night's (Dec. 28, 2013) UFC 168 main event, chances are that person is not from this world.
Indeed, nobody expected that Anderson Silva would have lost the way he did against Chris Weidman in the second round of their championship rematch, shattering his shin across the knee of "All American."
We did, however, expect a different fight from their first encounter. And he certainly materialized before the leg break.
The biggest question that surrounded this Middleweight rematch if whether or not Silva would act anything remotely close to the way he did in the first fight with Weidman, unveiling showboating antics that had been successful in the past against talented fighters such as Demian Maia, Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar and Yushin Okami, among others.
Joe Rogan's famous quote on the pre-fight promos heard him yell out, "You can't play games inside the Octagon." For years, "The Spider" did. And at UFC 162: "Weidman vs. Silva 1" on July 6, 2013, it was game over.
In the rematch over the weekend, Silva did not play any games. He came out to fight ... and he did exactly that.
Silva did not taunt Weidman. In fact, he was a lot calmer, looked for his shots and openings, as well as stayed patient. Weidman was the aggressor, pressing the action, while being wary of the deadly striker's counters. Weidman scored a takedown, which was expected in the minds of some observers who felt the "All American" would have the rappling advantage.
The question that lingered was whether or not Weidman's knockout in the summer was a fluke and if his stand up was able to neutralize Silva's, who is arguably the best striker in the history of the sport. Meanwhile, Silva had trouble with wrestlers in the past (fe.g. Chael Sonnen, Dan Henderson and Travis Lutter), yet he also had three submission wins in UFC (six in total in his career) ... the three fighters that were just mentioned.
In other words, if you hung around for too long around the web, "The Spider" was going to make you pay.
However, that was eerily different Saturday night.
After Weidman scored a takedown on the legend, Silva was able to get back to his feet; however, he was decked by the champion right behind the ear, dropping the former champion and pouncing on him with punches. Weidman did not tire himself out, accurately picking his shots in the ground and pound.
The second round was slightly better for Silva, until his leg snapped and he fell backward in immense pain.
It is hard to say what exact expectations we all had for this particular rematch at UFC 168. It is safe to say that we thought it would have been more of a calculated fight.
In the first match, Weidman knocked out the clowning champion. And as a champion in the rematch, he checked a leg kick and his opponent gruesomely broke his leg. Surely, Weidman did not expect to break Silva's leg and did not do it on purpose.
But, Weidman learned from the first encounter Silva's leg kicks were dangerous over the course of a five-round fight. He didn't want to get lit up for 25 minutes; therefore, he trained specifically to check his kicks. That alone is called smarts and skill, even if he had no intention to coming into that fight to snap Silva's shin with his knee.
Nonetheless, it is safe to say that sometimes when we expect a certain fight to be decisive and answer a lot of questions that we have -- especially going into a rematch -- the answer can still be left unclear. At least this is the case for some. We learn that although the result is decisive, some will still question for years to come. Maybe because there was not a distinct blow that ended the fight, or a judging decision that a child could have precisely determined.
It is not Weidman's fault that Silva danced the Macarena the first time around and then broke his leg in the second fight. It is truly unfortunate for Silva -- and nobody deserves to have to live through an episode like that -- at least not a world-class athlete or a good person, for that matter.
However, these unfortunate occurrences are not Weidman's fault. He did his job and he beat the competitor with the most title defenses in UFC history, Silva, one of the greatest fighters who ever lived.
For those who expected Weidman to win, they were right. Having said that, not one person in this world thought he would have won in the manner he did.
Two in a row against the best ever ... that's called skill, not luck.
For complete UFC 168: "Weidman vs. Silva 2" fight coverage, check out our story stream here.