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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Despite some initial displeasure with the choice of Chris Leben as a replacement for an injured Wanderlei Silva at UFC 116, Yoshihiro Akiyama has agreed to take the fight and the two will meet in the night's co-main event.
Akiyama expressed his displeasure about the bout to Korean based website Daum.net this week, going so far as to say he may pull out of the event in the worst case scenario.
However, according to a report from MMAJunkie.com, he has been satiated enough to take the fight and it will proceed as planned.
UFC 116 airs live on Spike TV and pay-per-view next Saturday, July 3, headlined by a UFC Heavyweight Championship bout between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin.
Penick's Analysis: Akiyama likely finagled himself some extra money to accept this fight, but no matter what happened to get him to agree to the fight the end result is that the event won't lose its co-main event completely. This should be a competitive bout, but with Leben coming in on 12 days notice after already going through a fight last weekend, Akiyama should be favored in the bout. Leben's still a very live dog in the fight, but it's Akiyama's to lose.
RELATED STORY: UFC QUOTABLES: Yoshihiro Akiyama isn't happy with the opponent change at UFC 116, threatens to pull out of the fight: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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