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UFC 138 Leben vs. Munoz: Leben Says "When I’m Right, No One Can Defeat Me"

UFC middleweight Chris Leben has come along way since his days as a hard-partying, heavy drinking, out of control contestant on season one of The Ultimate Fighter way back in 2005. “The Crippler” has grown up as a man and a mixed martial ar…

UFC middleweight Chris Leben has come along way since his days as a hard-partying, heavy drinking, out of control contestant on season one of The Ultimate Fighter way back in 2005.

“The Crippler” has grown up as a man and a mixed martial artist right before our very eyes. That’s not to say he hasn’t had his ups and downs, but how many of us haven’t gone through our own peaks and valleys?

Most of us are allowed to mature without the pressure of having our every move ridiculed by members of an ever growing media, and a boss who does not like to see the sport or the organization embarrassed in any way.

Leben has stepped his game up in a big way over the past 18 months. He is now preparing to headline UFC 138 against surging contender Mark Munoz on November 5 in Birmingham, England.

The last time Leben fought in the UK he lost a unanimous decision to Michael Bisping at UFC 89 back in October of 2008. After the bout Leben tested positive for steroids and received a nine month suspension. He returned at UFC 101 where he was choked out by Jake Rosholt.

Something must have happened when Leben woke up after the fight with Rosholt because since then he has gone 4-1 with wins over Jay Silva, Wanderlei Silva, Aaron Simpson and Yoshihiro Akiyama. The UFC is so happy with Leben that they have chosen him to be part of the first non-title fight that is scheduled for five rounds when he faces Munoz.

“I think it’s awesome to be part of this fight,” Leben told Bleacher Report. “It’s a good thing all-around, not just for the fighters, but for the fans as well. I’m prepared to go five rounds. This is going to be a huge point of separation for the main event guys in headline bouts.”

Leben is taking this opportunity extremely serious and is working as hard as ever. Leben only knows one speed and that’s straight ahead as witnessed in his wars, especially his Fight of the Night against Akiyama at UFC 116. He will need to pace himself better against Munoz or risk losing steam in the championship rounds.

“We’ve been training for a few weeks now, but we are really starting to pick up some steam,” Leben said. “Everything is going really good so far and now is the time where we can start to formulate a game plan.”

Munoz is about as tough as they come. He has power in both hands and uses his amateur wrestling background to try and take his opponents down where he can beat them with his savage ground and pound. Ever since making the drop to middleweight back in August of 2009, he has amassed a 6-1 record.

“We are going to bring in some guys in from outside of our camp, fighters like Ed Herman who I used to train with at Team Quest,” Leben admitted. “Most likely I will bring in some of my coaches from Oregon, like Greg Thompson. The key is having guys here who are familiar with me and can help me prepare for Munoz’s style of fighting. I know we are going to bring a few wrestlers in as well.”

The only loss Munoz has had since he began fighting at 185 came against former No. 1 contender Yushin Okami. His growth and maturity have shone through in wins against Kendall Grove, C.B. Dolloway and, most recently, Demian Maia.

“Munoz has been very impressive and has come along way since he began in this sport,” Leben explained. “He started off like many of the other guys who have similar backgrounds, as just a wrestler. He has really grown into a well rounded fighter, but what impresses me most is his heart.”

On top of preparing for a five round fight, Leben has to deal with the flight overseas, the time change and other obstacles that come along with fighting in England. Then there is the memory of losing to Bisping and the subsequent suspension that can now be looked at as a blessing in disguise.

“I actually love being over there, I get real pumped to fight in the U.K.,” Leben said excitedly. “The fans and the atmosphere are great. The one thing that really bothers me is the food. It really sucks. Here I am trying to eat healthy and cut weight, yet all they bring you to eat are these sandwiches. All I can say is it’s not as bad as being in France.”

The biggest news in the sport has been the deal made between the UFC and Fox. Fans will now be treated to four cards shown on the main Fox channel, while FX & Fuel TV will now carry The Ultimate Fighter and all of the UFC Unleashed shows. It can only be seen as a positive from the fans point of view, what really matters are how the fighters feel about it.

“I mean I guess we’re supposed to be happy about it,” Leben said. “Everyone seems to be all excited about and maybe I will be too, but my focus right now is on my fight with Munoz. I can’t allow outside distractions to take me away from preparing for this bout. My one and only priority right now is to train for Mark Munoz.”

Leben is the main coach at ICON Fitness MMA Gym in Hawaii, something that he has always said he thoroughly enjoys. He also opened up a gym with Steven Saito in Oahu back in January. With his outgoing personality and love for coaching, it would make perfect sense to see Leben as a coach on an upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter.

“I would love to get an opportunity to coach on the show,” Leben said. “It would give me an opportunity to maybe work with a fighter who has the talent, but needs to harness it, maybe someone like myself when I was on the show. If the timing and the situation was right, I would jump all over it.”

Most fans can appreciate the turnaround Leben has done since coming off his suspension and loss to Rosholt. It was a never a question of Leben’s talent or his heart, but many wondered where his head was at. He has had some arrests for drunk driving, but, for whatever reason, he has done a complete 180 and given all of us some of the most exciting fights we have seen over the past 18 months.

“For me I always knew what type of fighter I could be,” offered Leben. “I knew I had the physical tools and the heart, but truthfully my biggest enemy has always been me. When I am right and focused I don’t see anyone beating me. The biggest difference has to be doing the right thing. It has to do with more of a focus on training and taking better care of myself.”

In Leben’s last fight, he knocked out MMA legend Wanderlei Silva in just 27 seconds. It was a vicious knockout that saw “The Axe Murderer” fall face first onto the canvas. Afterwards, White suggested that it was maybe time for Silva to call it a career. Being such a huge fan of Silva for so many years, Leben had his own take on that situation.

“I feel like it should be the fighter’s call and that they themselves should know when it’s time to hang up the gloves,” Leben explained. “Wanderlei Silva has done so much for this sport. I think he still has some good fights left in him. Anyone would have gone down if they were hit as hard as I hit him. If Silva wants another fight I believe Dana owes it to him.”

Now that Leben has his life and career surging full steam ahead, has he given any thought on how and when he would like to end his career? He just turned 31 this past July, but he has been in his share of battles. Since beginning his career in 2002, Leben is now preparing for his 30^th career fight.

“I am going to take a wait and see approach to that question,” Leben offered. “As long as I am healthy, I’d like to think I can compete for another four or five years. As long as I can be competitive and enjoying myself then we’ll see where this ride takes me.”

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UFC 137 Results: Throughout It All BJ Penn Had the Heart & Spirit of a Warrior

You’ll never hear anyone accuse BJ Penn of utilizing lay and pray to win a fight. Go back & watch all of Penn’s fights & you’ll never see Penn do “just enough” to gain a victory.What you’ll see from the very beginning until the very end is a wa…

You’ll never hear anyone accuse BJ Penn of utilizing lay and pray to win a fight. Go back & watch all of Penn’s fights & you’ll never see Penn do “just enough” to gain a victory.

What you’ll see from the very beginning until the very end is a warrior who went full boar from start to finish. It didn’t matter who the opponent was or what the circumstances were, Penn gave everything he had & then some.

If tonight’s fight with Nick Diaz was truly the last time we will see Penn ever put on the 4 oz. gloves or grace us with his presence inside the Octagon, then we saw what Penn was truly all about.

If there was one knock on BJ throughout his entire 10 year career it was his cardio. He was simply unable to maintain the pace that was necessary to finish the job at times.

That was never more evident than it was tonight. Penn showed off the all-around skills that allowed him to be only the third man in the sports history to capture titles in two different weight classes.

His boxing was crisp as he kept Diaz off guard with a fantastic jab & his grappling was good enough for him to briefly take the back of a man Penn himself said has some of the best pure BJJ in all of MMA.

Unfortunately, he seemed to slow down in the second round, which can be attributed to the pressure Diaz put on as much as Penn simply beginning to tire & slow down.

As Diaz gained more confidence & began to pepper Penn with shots to the head & body, BJ tired more & more. This continued through the third round until the final bell on the fight & “The Prodigy’s” career sounded.

The look of defeat was evident all over Penn’s battered face. But this look wasn’t only from tonight’s fight, it was from a career filled wars against the best the sport had to offer.

No matter how badly he was beaten or how badly BJ was dishing out the punishment, the one constant that his fans could always count on was the heart & warriors spirit Penn displayed.

If that really was the last time Penn will ever fight, he did it doing what he always had, by putting on a show & going out on his shield. For that the fan in me would like to say two simple words. Thank You.

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UFC 137 Diaz vs. Penn: Who’s on the Hot Seat

UFC 137 is the beginning of a four week stretch in which the UFC will host four major cards. UFC 137 has undergone some significant changes due to injuries as well as some of Nick Diaz’s classic behavior, but at the end of the day any card headlined by…

Diaz was originally scheduled to face UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre, but due to Diaz failing to show for two straight press conferences, UFC President Dana White chose to remove Diaz from the main event and insert Carlos Condit in his place.

Condit was all set to take on former UFC Lightweight and Welterweight Champion BJ Penn in the co-main event, but due to his insertion into the main event and the days getting shorter and shorter until October 29th, the UFC moved Diaz into Condit’s spot opposite BJ Penn.

If all of that wasn’t enough GSP suffered a knee injury which forced him to pull out of the fight with Condit. So here we are today just a few days away from fight night and we have lost both Condit and GSP. The Penn-Diaz bout will now occupy the main event slot with a heavyweight tilt between Cheick Kongo and Matt Mitrione sliding into the co-main event slot.

As of now Condit will face GSP once he has been medically cleared, but there has been some talk that Diaz could leapfrog Condit should he defeat Penn in impressive fashion. Think of it as the mixed martial arts version of “As The World Turns!”

One thing is for sure, the fans will still get to see great fights, they just might come off later than we expected.

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UFC 137: Cro Cop vs. Roy Nelson in a Loser-Leaves-Town Match

Much like the old westerns that were so popular years ago, you would have two men meet in the center of town to determine which man left and which man stayed.Roy Nelson and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic will meet in the center of the Octagon in Las Vegas t…

Much like the old westerns that were so popular years ago, you would have two men meet in the center of town to determine which man left and which man stayed.

Roy Nelson and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic will meet in the center of the Octagon in Las Vegas to determine which heavyweight will live to see another day and which man will be shown the door.

Both fighters are on the wrong end of two-fight losing streaks. In the UFC that is enough to spell doom, so it is not hard to understand why the loser of this showdown will more than likely receive his pink slip in the days after Saturday night’s pay-per-view.

While neither fighter can be mistaken for a title contender, they both bring a loyal following to the table and that can never be discounted, but a win is a win and a loss is a loss.

Cro Cop has a legion of fans dating back to his days in K-1 and Pride. Known for his devastating head kicks, Cro Cop has accumulated a career’s worth of highlight reel knockouts. Unfortunately for him, he has failed to achieve the same success inside the Octagon that he did in Japan.

During two stints with the UFC, he has a 4-5 record with just one head kick knockout, which was thrown by Gabriel Gonzaga and taken by Cro Cop himself.

In his last two bouts, Cro Cop has really begun to show his age and the mileage on a body that has been through 38 mixed martial arts bouts and 23 kickboxing matches.

He was knocked out on the third round by a Frank Mir knee that thankfully put an end to what may have been the worst main event matchup in UFC history. At UFC 128 against Brendan Schaub, Filipovic was controlled by the younger, stronger fighter before being knocked out once again late in the third round.

Nelson is popular because he represents the everyday man more than he does a mixed martial artist fighting in the world’s top organization. With a rotund belly, shaggy beard and an out of style mullet, Nelson embraces his image and endears himself to the average person.

Don’t let his physique fool you: He possesses world-class grappling skills and for the most part has pretty good conditioning.

After winning Season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter by knocking out Schaub in Round 1, Nelson went on to defeat Stefan Struve by first-round knockout. Next, He went lost a unanimous decision to current No. 1 heavyweight contender Junior dos Santos in a heavyweight title eliminator bout at UFC 117.

Nelson had become the first man to take Dos Santos the distance in his sixth career UFC bout. He also showed a ton of heart as he took a beating, but refused to go down or quit.

He would go on to face Frank Mir at UFC 130, and it was apparent right away that something was wrong. Within the first couple of minutes of the opening round, Nelson seemed spent and it was amazing that he was able to last the entire 15 minutes of the fight.

He lost via unanimous decision.

Two days after the bout, Nelson learned that he had walking pneumonia and spent the next month and a half recuperating.

UFC president Dana White took Nelson to task for not taking his career serious enough and trying to get into better shape. After fighting like this his entire career, one would think it would be tough to teach an old dog new tricks. He had talked about getting in contact with Mike Dolce and even mentioned the possibility of attempting to make the cut down to the light heavyweight division.

There has been no recent discussion on that matter. One would have to assume it may be too late to make a serious run at making the 205-pound limit.

At 37 and 35 years old respectively, time is not on either Cro Cop’s or Nelson’s side.

The new breed of heavyweights are bigger, stronger and faster than both men. The opportunities for either fighter to be anything more than a special attraction went out the window a long time ago.

But with a loyal fan base, as long as they can gather a couple of wins here or there, the UFC will keep them around. With so much on the line this Saturday night, here is to hoping we see an exciting fight between two guys just looking to put on a show.

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UFC 137 Press Conference: Nick Diaz Scares the UFC by Showing Up Late

Will he or won’t he? That has to be the question on the minds of UFC executives, fans and Nick Diaz’s opponents when it comes time to start a press conference. Today he was scheduled to be on the call along with his UFC 137 opponent B.J. Penn and heavy…

As you all know by now, Diaz was originally scheduled to face UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre for his title, but was removed from that spot in favor of Carlos Condit for no-showing two consecutive press conferences. As luck would have it, the UFC paired him up against Penn, Condit’s original opponent in the co-main event.

Lo and behold, GSP was injured and the UFC was forced to move the Penn-Diaz affair to the main event spot and hold their breath that he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize a card that is suffering from injuries and NIck Diaz being Nick Diaz. As the call began today at 2 p.m. EST, Diaz was nowhere to be found.

“We are expecting Nick Diaz to be here and are trying to locate him as we speak,” said a nervous Dave Sholler when quizzed on the Stockton residents whereabouts by Canadian journalist Neil Davidson.

“Is Diaz still scheduled to appear on the card?” was another question posed by Davidson. Poor Sholler could deflect that question to UFC President Dana White who was not in attendance in person or on the phone.

So, as BJ Penn received the majority of the questions, with Mitrione and Kongo being woken up every 10 minutes or so, the mood was a mixture of concern and a certain amount of “I told you so’s,” due to Diaz’s reputation for being late or not showing up to these conferences at all.

Dana White tweeted that he was hearing the UFC dropped the ball on the Diaz no-show. When pressed for further comment, Sholler explained that the UFC was in constant contact with Diaz’s trainer and manager Caeser Gracie, who was on the hunt for the former Strikeforce welterweight champion.

Penn was asked along the way about the fact that Diaz was not in attendance, and he did his best to keep the focus off of Diaz and on the fight and how well prepared he feels he is going into the showdown next Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Then at 2:43, nearly 45 minutes late, Diaz chimed in, sounding as if he had just woken up. “I wasn’t aware that there was a call,” explained Diaz. “I trained hard last night, went home and ate, then fell asleep. I woke up today, my phone was dead and my brother was telling me that I was supposed to be on this call. I was never given any notice. I never knew anything about it, it’s as simple as that.”

Sounding like he would rather be anywhere else, but on the call, Diaz explained some of the training he had been doing. Between his BJJ, boxing and wrestling training, he had been doing a lot of work on his cardio. He was then asked if he had any regrets about all that had gone on, including losing the original spot in the main event against GSP.

“I should have been there for those press conferences, but it’s not going to make a bit of difference whether I whine or cry about it,” Diaz said defensively. “I’m not about to panic, I am going to do what I always do—which is train—and when it’s time to fight, it’s time to fight. Whatever is going on with me won’t matter when the fight starts. My job is to fight, I don’t really have a choice on who I’m fighting or who I’m not fighting.”

Diaz was asked whether or not he had made any missteps in leading up the card and his only concern was that he doesn’t make any mistakes while training. “I’m here to put in 100 percent,” he said. “I think that’s what is really important. I want to have good fights against good fighters, that’s what I try to bring to the table.”

Penn had said earlier on during the call that he believed that Diaz was the best boxer in MMA. He was asked whether or not he was a fan of Penn’s and how he felt about fighting him. The comments made by Penn seemed to please Diaz, who then went on to say that he wasn’t pleased that he has to fight a guy he considers a friend. As with his usual rhetoric, Diaz said a fight’s a fight, and that’s how he is going to approach it.

“It’s not going to make it easy on me,” Diaz said. “We have spent a lot of time training together and I’m going to do what my manager says. I’ll continue to train and whatever they tell me to do is what I will do.” Asked whether or not he felt a fight with Penn would allow him to showcase his skills better than if he faced GSP, Diaz said he would have preferred to face GSP because it was for the title.

“Georges is a little bit bigger than BJ and he would not be able to stall me the same way because I am bigger,” Diaz said. “I was looking forward to fighting GSP. It would’ve been interesting to see how we would’ve dealt with each other. This fight with Penn is a lot different, and to be honest I think BJ is a much better fighter than GSP.

“I don’t think this is the proper weight for Penn, I don’t think he looked that great in his last fight, but you can never count him out. Lightweight is the ideal weight class for him, but all around he is much better than GSP.”

Once again Diaz was asked again whether or not he regretted not getting on the plane to Canada, and in true Diaz style he said yes, but deflected the blame on others for not reminding him about his obligations. He mentioned that if he knew that he had to rely on himself for that information things would have gone much differently.

The fact remains that Diaz lost a shot at the title, yet still finds himself in the main event. He seems focused on training and nothing else. He refused to take any blame for missing any press conferences instead choosing to blame the people who surround him. Yet, Josh Gross tweeted that Gracie told him yesterday that Diaz was aware and would be at the press conference.

For Diaz he believes that all of this is a waste of his time and he should be using this time to train to become the best in the world, because after all, isn’t that what they are there to do? He doesn’t lack any confidence in his abilities and we should expect to see a well trained and prepared Nick Diaz next Saturday night.

Sholler was asked how far ahead this conference was scheduled and he chose not to answer that question. He went on to say that “All’s well that ends well,” and that the fight is on, the organization, fans and everyone else is excited about the matchup.The bulk of the questions posed to Diaz were related to the press conference, which is truly a shame.

Here we have two superb mixed martial artists going up against one another, and all people could ask was the same cookie-cutter questions which only seemed to be drawing the ire of Diaz.

Someone asked Diaz if he and Penn had something on the side and whether or not the Strikeforce title would be on the line. Diaz seemed uninterested in answering that particular question as did Penn. Kudos to BJ for taking the high road and staying away from the controversy.

As long as Diaz is fighting we will have these instances where he just doesn’t care about his obligations outside the cage. He is a fighter that would’ve fit in back in the early days when there wasn’t much media coverage and he could’ve just trained and fought in peace.

One last thing: Both Penn and Diaz said they would be willing to fight for five rounds, but it wasn’t up to them. They both explained that they had been there before and are in shape to do battle for 25 minutes should the UFC ask them to do so.

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UFC 136 Edgar vs. Maynard III: Who’s on the Hot Seat?

For the first time since UFC 69, the UFC invades Houston, TX. With two title bouts and a possible middleweight title eliminator, UFC 136 is poised to blow the roof off of the Toyota Center. The last time the UFC held an event here was the night Matt Serra shocked the world and knocked Georges St. Pierre out and took the UFC Welterweight Championship back to Long Island, NY.

Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard will look to pick up where they left off this past New Year’s night when the two men battled for five hard rounds only to see the fight scored a draw at UFC 125. Edgar will look to defend his title for the third time against the only man to have ever defeated him.

In what will most likely be Kenny Florian’s last shot at winning a UFC title, the Boston native will take on Jose Aldo. This will be Florian’s third attempt at winning a championship, having lost to Sean Sherk and BJ Penn in attempts to capture the UFC Lightweight Championship. Aldo will look to defend the UFC Featherweight Title for the second time, having defeated Mark Hominick at UFC 129.

Chael Sonnen makes his return after a 14-month layoff due to a suspension, as he will face Brian Stann in a bout that could determine the next man to face Anderson Silva for a shot at the UFC Middleweight Championship. Sonnen and Silva met at UFC 117 back in August of 2010. Sonnen dominated the champion for four and a half rounds before getting submitted via triangle choke late in the fifth round. Stann has won three fights in a row since dropping down to middleweight.

This card is so stacked that the Spike TV bouts could be as exciting as any of the main card bouts. Anthony Pettis will face Jeremy Stephens and Demian Maia will take on Jorge Santiago. Joey Beltran, a fighter who has proven to be very entertaining, is relegated to the undercard.

Now that we have gone over the positives of this card, it is time to take a look at the negative aspects. We will now focus on the fighters who could find themselves without a job should they lose on Saturday night.

Whether it’s a losing streak or their inability to put on an exciting fight, there are always a few fighters who are on The Hot Seat.

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