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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
That didn't take long.
Shortly after it was reported that UFC 138 would be coming to the LG Arena in Birmingham, England on November 5, the event now has a headliner.
Fresh off a 27 second knockout of Wanderlei Silva earlier this month at UFC 132, Chris "The Crippler" Leben will meet Mark Munoz in the night's main event on Spike TV. The UFC's U.K. branch announced the fight on Tuesday morning.
Coincidentally enough, Leben headlined the UFC's last event in Birmingham, where he suffered a decision loss to Michael Bisping. Of course, he also failed a steroid test administered by the UFC following that event and was suspended for a year, but Leben has turned things around and has won four of his last five fights.
Munoz has won three straight fights in the UFC, most recently scoring a razor thin decision victory over Demian Maia at UFC 131 in June. The former NCAA D-1 national champion wrestler is 6-2 in eight appearances in the UFC.
Penick's Analysis: This is a very good fight in the middleweight division, and it's about the level of headliner to be expected for a same-day delayed card on Spike TV. Leben did just co-headline an event, and has a big following, so off the knockout of Silva he'll make for a solid draw for the card. The UFC will continue filling this one up now in the coming weeks as well as the October events and what will now be UFC 139 in San Jose.
UPDATE: Ariel Helwani at MMAFighting.com reports that this fight will be the first five-round non-title fight in UFC history.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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