Chris Weidman lays out timeline for recovery from broken leg at UFC 261

Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman released his first statement since his gruesome leg injury at Saturday's UFC 261. 

In the opening seconds of his fight with Uriah Hall, Weidman threw a leg kick which Hall checked. As Weidman planted his foot after throwing the kick, his foot buckled, and he crumbled to the canvas, screaming in agony. 

On Sunday, Weidman's wife, Marivi, gave an encouraging update that her husband had successful surgery immediately after UFC 261. Early Monday morning from his hospital bed, Weidman took to Instagram to provide an update on when he can resume training and thanking everyone who has wished him well. 

"Trying to find the blessing in disguise and silver lining," Weidman said. "Honestly, as soon as it happened and I hit the floor, seeing what happened to my leg and the pain started hitting me, I was just trying to put my mind on something positive and coming out of this. I'm hopeful that's the thing that's gonna come out of it that's good. This is not fun. I can't believe what happened.

"It's pretty brutal, but I'm gonna get through this. I think it's gonna be eight weeks until I could walk without crutches and stuff and drive and all that. And then, as far as actual training, I don't know. They said between six and 12 months, I'll be good to go." 

The 36-year-old went on to explain the injuries he suffered and plans on documenting the recovery process.

"Surgery was successful," Weidman said. "They put a titanium rod through the tibia. So they go through the knee, and they take the rod, and they drill it through the tibia to make it straight and hard. My fibula was broken, as well, but I guess when they put the tibia back together, and my leg was straight, the fibula kind of matched back up to where it was broken, and they feel that could heal on its own as long as I'm not putting weight on it and stuff."