---

7. Shattered Spider
UFC 168
Dec. 28, 2013 | Las Vegas
Although we do our best to suppress this, all experienced viewers of combat sports know that something terrible -- something so bad that it might forever alter one of the participants’ lives -- can happen at any given moment in a fight. In some backward and counterintuitive way, that is one of the appealing factors: The viewer knows that what he or she is watching is visceral and real.

Nothing better drives home that reality than what happened to Anderson Silva in his rematch with newly crowned middleweight champion Chris Weidman. Five months after their first meeting, which ended in a shocking knockout loss for “The Spider,” the two met again to settle their score once and for all.

Silva began well, scrambling out of a takedown attempt and working sharp knees in the clinch, but Weidman nailed him with a right hand behind the ear that dropped the former champion, and the American spent the rest of the round beating him up from top position. The second round started off better for Silva, as he kept Weidman moving backwards with a series of left hands, a hard counter jab and a pair of low kicks. Weidman responded with good shots of his own, however, and also checked an attempted outside leg kick. The American threw a body kick, forcing Silva backwards, and the former champion tried a hard shot at the inside of Weidman’s leg with no setup. Weidman checked it, and Silva’s shinbone snapped cleanly, flopping freely as he fell to the canvas.

It was one of the most shocking and unlikely endings to one of the biggest and most anticipated rematches in the sport’s history, and it offers a cautionary tale of the potential danger every time a competitor gets in the cage.

Number 6 » Upset for the Ages