This Saturday, July 2, 2011, Wanderlei Silva will make his return to the Octagon taking on the dangerous Chris Leben in a highly-anticipated middleweight contest.
Leben is coming off of a knockout loss to the heavy-handed Brian Stann. Leben originally called out Wanderlei after defeating Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116 last July. Leben was on a three-fight win streak until he met Stann at UFC 125, so in this fight he is looking to bounce back to get himself back into the big picture.
Silva has not been inside the Octagon since UFC 112 where he defeated Michael Bisping by way of unanimous decision. Since that fight, he has been dealing with injuries.
Videos of Wanderlei’s training for this fight have become available on YouTube and he appears to be in excellent shape and ready for this fight. Wanderlei is getting up there in age and at the current moment, this is his last chance at greatness in a realistic aspect.
Even though he has only won two of his last seven fights, his impressive debut at middleweight against Bisping really shot his stock back through the roof.
His inactivity has hurt him in a rankings standpoint, but since when have rankings truly mattered?
An impressive win should easily make him if not top-10, at least top-12 in the world. But, the big question still remains: Does Wanderlei have what it takes to make it through the middleweight division and get a shot at the title before he retires?
The answer is YES!
At this current moment, the UFC middleweight division is truly lacking depth. Nate Marquardt dropped to 170, and was then cut. Chael Sonnen is suspended, Damian Maia recently lost to Mark Munoz and Michael Bisping (has never truly defeated a top-10 UFC middleweight) has somehow put himself in the position for a chance at the title if he defeats Jason Miller.
Wanderlei is a legend, in all truths with a win, he would be one to three fights away from a title shot, it just all depends on what happens with Anderson Silva after his fight with Okami (if he wins).
Wanderlei is being written off by many people, many say he just doesn’t have it anymore. Those people must have missed his fight with Bisping. At this moment in time he truly appears to be in the best shape of his life, and has also aligned himself with very solid camps outside of his own personal gym in Las Vegas.
Never count Wanderlei out. He is easily in the top five of greatest of all-time, and always gives it his all. He is truly a force a middleweight.
So, will Wanderlei defeat Leben and make himself one step closer to a shot at the middleweight title? Tune in this Saturday night to UFC 132 live on PPV to find out.
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