The undercard bout of UFC 261 took a surprising turn as former middleweight champion Chris Weidman suffered a gruesome leg injury in the first round of his bout against Uriah Hall. Coincidentally, the incident was reminiscent of when his former opponent in Anderson Silva similarly snapped his leg at UFC 168 against him seven years ago.

Knowing the immense gravity of the situation, the Brazilian mixed martial arts legend then posted his well-wishes for the injured Weidman on Instagram.

On Saturday night, Weidman threw a leg kick at Hall's knee but he eventually twisted his leg in the process of doing so. Due to the spine-chilling injury, the fight was eventually called off just 17 seconds into the start of the match with Hall being declared as the winner via technical knockout.

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Weidman was then carried out of the octagon with a stretcher as he was transported to a nearby local hospital in Florida. The Jamaican-American fighter then improved to an 18-9-0 record while his counterpart dropped to a 15-6-0 tally.

Dating back to 2013, Weidman found himself on the other end of the octagon as Silva suffered the same fate when he broke his leg midway through their match at UFC 168. The middleweight legend then underwent surgery but managed to return to action 13 months later as he emerged victorious against Nick Diaz back in 2015.

As of the moment, Chris Weidman is already recovering from his injury in the hospital. Though his return may take a while, there is no doubt that the former UFC middleweight champion can get back on his feet stronger than ever in the future.