Anderson Silva 'very happy' to serve as inspiration behind NBA star Paul George's recovery from a broken leg

It's always powerful thing to watch when athletes across different lines of professional sports look to each other for guidance or ways to improve their own training habits.

Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, whether you appreciate his style of combat or not, has become a household name and admired by other celebrities and professional athletes, like NBA All-Star Paul George.

The Indiana Pacers small forward broke his leg, while attempting to block a shot in an Aug. 2014 scrimmage with the Team USA basketball team. "PG-13" missed the majority of the 2014-15 campaign making his way back into basketball shape and cited "The Spider," who also incurred a devastating leg injury himself, as a source of inspiration and fuel for his recovery.

"It did (inspire me)," George told MMAjunkie. "It helps with your confidence to see guys who went through the same injury and you see them get back to normal and compete again. He won his comeback fight. It definitely helped seeing that."

Silva, 40, was hurt when he threw a leg kick in a Dec. 2013 title rematch with then middleweight king Chris Weidman. "All-American" checked the kick, which resulted in the Brazilian falling to the ground, withering in pain.

He eventually made his way back to the Octagon 13 months later for a main event with Nick Diaz at UFC 183, where he ultimately won via unanimous decision (later changed to a No Contest).

Silva sent George a message on Twitter when he heard of the break 18 months ago. The three-time All-Star has his Pacers team in the middle of the Eastern Conference playoff race and sports current averages of 23.6 points, seven rebounds and four assists per game.

Silva takes on perennial middleweight contender Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC Fight Night 84 today. For more UFC 'London' coverage click here.