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By: Anwar Perez, MMATorch Columnist
With Wanderlei Silva pulling out of his co-main event fight against Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116, Chris Leben replaced Silva not even two days after his win against Aaron Simpson at the Ultimate Fighter finale. There is only a twelve day difference from when Leben took the fight and when the fight actually takes place.
Welcome back Mr. Leben.
At the beginning of the year, the only thought of Leben (besides being a part of Anderson Silva’s UFC highlight reel) was him losing to Michael Bisping and testing positive for an anabolic steroid, which resulted in a nine month suspension, and when he did come back from suspension, he lost via triangle-choke to Jake Rosholt. Now, almost a year later from that fight, he sees himself back in a co-main event on what could possibly be the biggest UFC PPV in the organizations history.
Chris Leben was always a popular fighter, even when he was mostly a jerk to everyone around him on the first season of the Ultimate Fighter; but as a fan, you saw him come into his own after the show with wins over Patrick Cote, Jorge Rivera and Terry Martin. He has always had this bad boy image, but he also gave off the persona that he’s in the cage because he loves fighting and the sport that he represents.
He couldn’t be a better replacement for Silva. They both have very similar styles. Leben can strike, and has one punch knockout power (like Silva), he can also take a lot of punishment from his opponents (watch his fight against Terry Martin). Both Leben and Silva are known for the stand-up game, where as their ground game is either just there, or a little above average (more in the case of Leben). Leben has been submitted in most of his losses, while only having one knockout against him, and well, that was against Anderson Silva in Silva's promotional debut.
Leben seems to be a perfect fit, and represents a fighter that is a true asset to the UFC. He took the fight literally forty-eight hours after his win over Simpson, and looks to sky-rocket past the competition in his quest for the middleweight belt.
Akiyama has already verbally slammed Leben due to him not being a bigger name, and also being disrespectful to Japanese culture because of Leben’s samurai tattoo. Well, the cold truth is that Leben, in name and notoriety, is a big name. If you look within the middleweight division, Leben is one of the most recognizable faces in the division, and of the company as a whole, due to his appearance on the first Ultimate Fighter. His hair, attitude, and his fights have made Leben a name, definitely more than Akiyama’s own here in the US.
Leben has the potential to literally sky-rocket to a title shot within one or two fights, depending on the outcomes of a couple of fights (including the title fight between Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva) in the near future.
Besides a boring, unanimous decision loss against Michael Bisping, Leben’s only other glaring loss was against Anderson Silva, where he became the first victim in Silva’s UFC highlight reel. There is definitely nothing to be ashamed of in that, and Leben has become a better fighter since then.
Leben will look to take advantage of the situation handed before him, and make the most of his co-main event slot. Opportunity comes knocking for Chris Leben, let’s hope he foots stomps the door down.
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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