Chris Leben knows a thing or two about Anderson Silva. After all, it was Leben who welcomed Silva to the promotion back in June 2006.
Leben talked a good game before that fight, saying during his pre-fight interview, “After he gets in there with me and I knock him out, he may want to go back to Japan or somewhere where the competition is a little easier.”
Forty-nine seconds after the fight began, Silva had his first win in the UFC and has never looked back. Including the victory over Leben, Silva has run off a UFC record 16 consecutive wins in the UFC. Ten of those victories have been UFC middleweight title defenses, another promotional record.
Leben and Silva will both compete at UFC 162. Leben will face Andrew Craig on the preliminary card portion of the show. Silva will put his crown on the line against Chris Weidman in the main event.
Leben recently took some time to discuss the headlining bout on the July 6 card, and it appears that he was not one of the fighters UFC president Dana White spoke to about the fight between Silva and Weidman.
White recently proclaimed, via Mike Bohn of MMAMania.com, “All the pros, when you talk to all the fighters – every fighter out there that I’ve talked too that we’ve interviewed thinks Weidman is going to beat him [Silva]. Georges St. Pierre thinks he’s going to win so much that he didn’t even want to plan to fight Anderson.”
UFC 162 will take place on July 6 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.
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