UFC middleweight Wanderlei Silva has injured his ribs and will not be competing at UFC 116 where he was originally scheduled to take on Yoshihiro Akiyama. Instead Chris Leben has stepped in on extremely short notice and will look to continue to write his comback story which started at The Ultimate Finale 11 where he took out Aaron Simpson. Sexyama, however, is a very good test for any fighter let alone one who will be fighting again so soon.
Akiyama hasn’t fought since UFC 100 where he gained the decision victory over Alan Belcher, increasing his current win streak to 11. While Leben has agreed to fight, the official signing has not yet taken place. The MMA News will update this story as news comes out.
UFC 116 features a main event bout between heavyweight champions Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin which will truly be the battle of the big men, and will also feature a rematch between Stephan Bonna and Krzysztof Soszynski.