Chris Leben isn’t washed up—he was just never that great to begin with.
This notion sounds absolutely heretical since Leben has always been a fan favorite due to his exciting fighting style, which always brings spectators to the edge of their seats, wanting more.
But it’s true: People only believed Leben was good because they liked watching him fight, and they wanted to believe that he was more than what he was—a brawler.
At UFC 138, it was proven that Leben was just a fighter who ran out of answers when met with a superior athlete.
Mark Munoz set a frantic, grinding pace that Leben couldn’t keep up with. The “Filipino Wrecking Machine” also used his superior wrestling to bring Leben to the mat and batter him, opening up a cut that impaired Leben’s vision in one eye and forced the fight to be stopped.
But was this any surprise to anyone that wasn’t blinded by their love for Leben’s fighting style (or by his bright red hair)?
You might remember a fighter by the name of Jake Rosholt, a great wrestler and good fighter who, despite his skills, only went 1-3 in the UFC.
Who was that one victory over? Chris Leben.
Rosholt stuck to Leben like glue, not letting him get any of his powerful shots off. Rosholt took Leben down at will and eventually submitted him with an arm-triangle choke in the third round.
When Leben’s record is examined further, it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. He is 12-7 in the UFC, but many of those victories came over lower-caliber fighters.
Leben may have beaten one great wrestler in Aaron Simpson, but Simpson was (and still is in some ways) a wrestler who’s trying to do MMA, rather than a proper MMA fighter; he’s still very uncomfortable when someone throws punches at him a la Brock Lesnar.
Yoshihiro Akiyama is another fighter whom Leben defeated, but Akiyama was one of the most overrated fighters in the UFC. He was somehow considered top competition despite never having beaten any top competition. The native of Japan is currently 1-3 in the UFC, and some would argue 0-4, since the one victory was a controversial decision over Alan Belcher.
What about Leben’s knockout of Pride legend Wanderlei Silva? Silva’s fighting style finally caught up with him; your bell can only be rung so many times.
Leben beat up guys like Alessio Sakara and Jorge Santiago, and he lost even when he took a minor step up in competition, losing to Brian Stann, Jason Macdonald, Michael Bisping and even Kalib Starnes!
Leben isn’t washed up—he was just exposed again as a guy who goes out to “fight” rather than win. While this makes him more popular and even idolized by fans, it ruins his potential.
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