Following Anderson Silva's injury in UFC 168 in December of last year, many fight fans, including his own camp and Dana White have speculated that the former middleweight champion will make his appearance in the Octagon sometime in 2014. But sadly, according to the Spider himself, he won't be fighting until mid 2015, Yahoo Sports has learned.

In an interview with Combate.com, a Brazilian website, Silva said, "This year is over for me. It may be that I fight in the middle of next year."

According to Rant Sports, Silva's statement automatically squashes rumors of his return in December for UFC 181. He also noted during the interview that due to his injury, he won't be able to fulfill his 10-fight contract with the UFC.

This is a devastating blow to Silva fans especially after White laid out a possible 2014 timeline for the fighter after his injury. Back in January, MMA Weekly reported that White said to ESPN2's SportsNation, "What's crazy about that injury is he will be walking without crutches in a few weeks, he will be training in less than six months, and he will be fighting by the end of the year."

The UFC president added, "So if you blow your ACL out, you're out for a year and three months. You break your leg in half, you're back before the end of the year."

White's prediction resonated the statement made by Silva's manager, Jorge Guimares, regarding the fighter's recovery. He said, It's gonna be a lot of physical therapy, but he's in the right place. It might take a year, but I think no later than one year, he'll be right back."

Silva broke his leg at the 1:16 mark of the second round during his bout against Chris Weidman last Dec. 28. Immediately after landing a kick to his opponent, Silva's shin snapped and was left dangling. Referee Herb Dean stopped and awarded the fight to Weidman via technical knockout.

A month later, Silva commented on the incident, "When I saw that my leg was broken, I was terrified. I couldn't tell if the fracture was exposed or not. Then I spoke to the judge who was there with me so they could put my leg in place as quickly as possible, and the pain was absurd."

He added, "I only thought one thing: Is it over? Will I ever walk again? Am I alright? But, I am confident that I will succeed. I will return."

Here's a clip of Silva's gruesome injury from his match against Weidman: