Tag: Chris Leben

UFC: Chris Leben Will Be Back and Better Than Ever Once He’s Sorted Himself out

Chris Leben is an interesting sort.One minute, he’s a loose cannon inside a house full of aspiring middleweights and light heavyweights, the next minute he’s putting on classic slug fests and displays of BJJ brilliance inside the cage, and then the nex…

Chris Leben is an interesting sort.

One minute, he’s a loose cannon inside a house full of aspiring middleweights and light heavyweights, the next minute he’s putting on classic slug fests and displays of BJJ brilliance inside the cage, and then the next…

Well, that’s where things get tricky, and that’s where some people argue about how likable Leben is.

MMA Fighting reports that “The Crippler” has tested positive for prescription painkillers oxycodone and oxymorphone, as per the results of a post-UFC 138 drug test, and will be out for the next year.

He’s not released from the company, much to the relief of his supporters, but Leben will be sidelined for the next year and this breaking news will obviously have some people choosing sides.

Is Leben to be remembered as the man who brought it every time he stepped in the cage, or will fans only remember him as the guy that pissed hot in two trips to Birmingham?

Stanozolol was the steroid that took nine months and a third of Leben’s purse the last time he tested positive and this time, Leben did look worse than some remember him looking in almost any other fight.

Were the painkillers to blame?

It’s hard to say, but while there’s no two ways around the issue, the hope should be that Leben seeks whatever help he needs and excavates whatever demons are still pressuring him right now.

Leben is one of the most polarizing images of the “warrior spirit” in MMA, and the worst things Leben should have to worry about are pugilistic dementia and the prospect of having his name in the same sentence as “a fight that sucked.”

Not even his two rounds with Mark Munoz were dull, even if some thought Leben did not look as great physically as he had looked in past fights.

Yes, Leben is a fighter, and yes, he puts the show before the win despite taking his licks in the process, but this is the second occasion in which he’s been sidelined for a failed drug test.

Leben does have a bit more sorting out to do in his personal life, but his fans will allow Leben the full year to figure it all out at last.

If he does that, it may not be long before the old Chris Leben is back in business, and when that day comes, perhaps we may once more speculate whether Leben is ready to support the 12-pounds of gold and represent the Ultimate Fighting Championship as its undisputed Middleweight Champion of The World.

Until then, Mr. Leben, cheers for a memorable 2011, and here’s hoping we see you back in the cage by November 2012.

Oh, and by the way, MMA World, is the weight cut an excuse now?

That’s what I figured as well.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Chris Leben Tests Positive for Pair of Painkillers in Post UFC 138 Drug Tests, Suspended for a Year by UFC


(Leben might need to pray that MMA fans and the UFC don’t turn their backs on him in the next year while he serves his latest suspension. Ask Karo Parisyan.)

Anyone who says that the UFC isn’t policing its own athletes when it comes to drug use needs to talk to Chris Leben.

The troubled UFC middleweight, who blamed a massive weight cut on his sluggish performance, tested positive for Oxymorphone and Oxycodone in tests administered by the promotion following his UFC 138 loss on November 5 to Mark Munoz. As a result, he has been suspended by Zuffa for a year.

For those keeping track, this is the second time “The Crippler” has been popped for pissing dirty by the UFC. The first time was after his UFC 89 decision loss to Michael back in October 2008 when he tested positive for Stanozolol. Between these incidents, he also got picked up for DUI for the second time in October 2010, which clearly reveals a pattern of someone who needs help for a substance abuse problem or someone who really needs a hobby during the winter months.


(Leben might need to pray that MMA fans and the UFC don’t turn their backs on him in the next year while he serves his latest suspension. Ask Karo Parisyan.)

Anyone who says that the UFC isn’t policing its own athletes when it comes to drug use needs to talk to Chris Leben.

The troubled UFC middleweight, who blamed a massive weight cut on his sluggish performance, tested positive for Oxymorphone and Oxycodone in tests administered by the promotion following his UFC 138 loss on November 5 to Mark Munoz. As a result, he has been suspended by Zuffa for a year.

For those keeping track, this is the second time “The Crippler” has been popped for pissing dirty by the UFC. The first time was after his UFC 89 decision loss to Michael back in October 2008 when he tested positive for Stanozolol. Between these incidents, he also got picked up for DUI for the second time in October 2010, which clearly reveals a pattern of someone who needs help for a substance abuse problem or someone who really needs a hobby during the winter months.

At any rate, Leben’s boss, UFC president Dana White issued the following statement on the TUF 1 vet’s current lapse of judgment via UFC.com:

“I like Chris and I want him to do well, but based on his actions, he’s been suspended for one year,” White said. “If he needs professional help, we are going to be there for him. We want to see him succeed not only in the Octagon, but in his personal life.”

Leben issued a statement of his own, accepting responsibility for his mistake and pledging to do better for the sport, his fans, his family, his friends and his employer.

“I would like to make it known that I fully accept this suspension and apologize for embarrassing the UFC, my friends and family, and sport of mixed martial arts,” Leben said. “I’m learning that I’m my own worst enemy sometimes. I can’t succeed in the Octagon or in life behaving this way. I’ve got to make some real changes over the next year and I’m going to focus on getting my life and career back on track. Again, I’m sorry to the UFC and fans that’ve supported me since my days on The Ultimate Fighter.”

According to the UFC each of the remaining 19 fighters on the card all passed their drug tests.

Chris Leben Suspended for One Year After Failed Drug Test at UFC 138

Filed under: UFCMiddleweight Chris Leben has been suspended by the UFC for one year after testing positive for prescription painkillers oxycodone and oxymorphone following his loss at UFC 138 in Birmingham, England, the organization announced via its w…

Filed under:

Chris LebenMiddleweight Chris Leben has been suspended by the UFC for one year after testing positive for prescription painkillers oxycodone and oxymorphone following his loss at UFC 138 in Birmingham, England, the organization announced via its website on Monday.

“I like Chris and I want him to do well, but based on his actions, he’s been suspended for one year,” UFC President Dana White said in a statement on UFC.com. “If he needs professional help, we are going to be there for him. We want to see him succeed not only in the Octagon, but in his personal life.”

This marks the second time that Leben, who lost by corner stoppage after fellow middleweight Mark Munoz opened a large cut over his left eye in their November 5 bout, has tested positive for banned substances via the UFC’s independent drug-testing efforts.

Leben previously tested positive for the steroid Stanozolol following his UFC 89 bout against Michael Bisping, which was also in Birmingham, England. For that offense, Leben was suspended nine months by the UFC and fined one-third of his fight purse.

Since UFC events are not subject to any athletic commission-sanctioned testing in England, the UFC conducts its own tests for fights on British soil and hands out punishments for positive tests at its own discretion.

In the official statement released by the UFC, Leben is quoted as saying: “I would like to make it known that I fully accept this suspension and apologize for embarrassing the UFC, my friends and family, and sport of mixed martial arts. I’m learning that I’m my own worst enemy sometimes. I can’t succeed in the Octagon or in life behaving this way. I’ve got to make some real changes over the next year and I’m going to focus on getting my life and career back on track. Again, I’m sorry to the UFC and fans that’ve supported me since my days on The Ultimate Fighter.”

According to the UFC, the 19 other fighters on the UFC 138 card passed their post-fight drug tests.

 

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UFC News: Mark Munoz Says Chael Sonnen Was Dirty in Their College Match

Critics of Chael Sonnen are going to be licking their chops when they hear what Mark Munoz said about the UFC’s favorite bad guy on “The Fight Fix” with Dennis Green last Week (Nov.18). Long story short, Munoz said that Sonnen wrestled a dirt…

Critics of Chael Sonnen are going to be licking their chops when they hear what Mark Munoz said about the UFC’s favorite bad guy on “The Fight Fix” with Dennis Green last Week (Nov.18). 

Long story short, Munoz said that Sonnen wrestled a dirty match when the two former Division I wrestlers met on the mat over a decade ago.  

Interestingly, Munoz accused Sonnen, a fighter criticized for not utilizing jiu-jitsu in the cage, for trying two submissions during the course of the match.  

“We end up going at it and I end up beating him pretty handily. But in that, he tried to submit me in a kneebar and then changed it into an ankle lock. No, sorry, a heel hook. Not a legal move in wrestling,” Munoz stated, as of course no submission holds are legal in collegiate wrestling. 

“He tried doing that to me and I felt my ankle pop and was like ‘aah’ and I knew that he did it so that he could try to come back. I was actually beating him pretty handily. I got upset during that match and was just ruthless in that fight afterwards,” Munoz said, clarifying that he was still able to hang on for the win.

Funny enough, Sonnen went out to dinner with Munoz and his wife years later, where Mrs. Munoz was not particularly happy to see Uncle Chael. 

“Years later we end up having dinner together and my wife is sitting at the table and she gets pretty upset, saying ‘What’s Chael Sonnen doing here? I hate that guy; he tried to hurt my husband,'” Munoz recalled.

Surprisingly, Munoz defended the fellow top UFC middleweight when he explained what he did during that match.

 

“Out of the blue, she said ‘So, can you tell me why you did that?’ He pretty much explained himself and… he’s a good guy, man. He was like ‘Can you blame me? I was getting beat!’ So I guess…if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying,” Munoz said. 

At this point, everyone fully expects UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva out until June of next year, so a title eliminator bout between Sonnen and Munoz makes a lot of sense.  

Despite the fight not being official yet, rumors persist that the two top-tier middleweights will square off on UFC on FOX 2, set for January 28th at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. 

Both fighters are coming off impressive performances in their most recent bouts.

Sonnen finished off “The All-American” Brian Stann with an arm triangle in the second round of their UFC 136 meeting, while Munoz stopped Chris Leben via TKO after “The Crippler” was unable to continue due to a nasty cut he suffered in the second round of their UFC 138 affair. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 139 Results: 5 Fights That Cung Le Could Take Next

Cung Le may be down after his loss to Wanderlei Silva, but he’s not out.The UFC almost always makes room for talented fighters with a flair for exciting techniques. Le will likely be no exception, since his array of kicks is one of the most exciting in…

Cung Le may be down after his loss to Wanderlei Silva, but he’s not out.

The UFC almost always makes room for talented fighters with a flair for exciting techniques. Le will likely be no exception, since his array of kicks is one of the most exciting in MMA history.

So what fighters could Le face after his loss to Silva? Read and find out!

Begin Slideshow

Chris “The Crippler” Leben is the Arturo Gatti of MMA

Chris Leben is to MMA what Arturo Gatti was to boxing, in the sense that he is willing to entertain the baying crowds while absorbing vast amounts of punishment in the process. Like the late Gatti, “The Crippler” is a brawler and his style …

Chris Leben is to MMA what Arturo Gatti was to boxing, in the sense that he is willing to entertain the baying crowds while absorbing vast amounts of punishment in the process.

Like the late Gatti, “The Crippler” is a brawler and his style of fisticuffs is sometimes likened to a club fighter—swing and hope for the best.

Leben definitely has the skill set—boxing, jiu-jitsu, wrestling and you guessed it, brawling.

Come fight night, however, the latter is his weapon of choice.

The fight with Wanderlei Silva is a perfect example of Leben throwing caution to the wind—“The Axe Murderer” came out all guns blazing, Leben followed suit—toe to toe and blow for blow, until the inevitable happened.

One of them got sparked. It wasn’t Leben but it could’ve been.

It’s a chance The Crippler takes, hoping that during the ensuing onslaught and through all the flailing fists, his will be the punch that connects.

Like “Thunder”, Leben has got one of the biggest pairs. To take such risks which have seen him on occasions bloodied and semi-comatose warrants that.

Remember the trilogy war Thunder had Micky Ward—it was boxing, but not as we know it.

Two guys throwing hell for leather—offense all the way, defense practically non-existent.

Was it entertaining? That would be an understatement.

Gatti vs. Ward 1 won fight of the year award by Ring Magazine, and the great boxing trainer Emanuel Steward went as far as saying that the ninth round was the “Round of the Century,” following Ward’s knockdown of Gatti.

In their third and final bout Gatti broke his hand twice in the fourth round while throwing an uppercut to Ward’s hip.

Regardless of the breakage, Gatti continued for six more rounds.

That’s what you call entertainment and wearing your heart on your sleeve. Gatti had shown that in abundance and so has The Crippler.

When he fought Terry Martin at UFC Fight Night: 11, Leben was on the receiving end of a blitzkrieg and on the verge of being knocked out before he turned things around and administered a knockout himself.

That fight won him Knockout of the Night honors.

Leben thus far has been awarded the honors of Knockout of the Night (three times) and Fight of the Night (twice).

That’s in no small part due to his aggressive gung-ho style of warfare.

Be that as it may, he should take a long look at The Axe Murderer. Well he did, and then he sent him on a short snooze.

The Axe Murderer’s punch resistance has gone—and he’s set for the knacker’s yard.

After his trilogy war with Ward, Gatti was never the same fighter again—he won a few, but in his last three losses to Floyd Mayweather, Carlos Baldomir and Alfonso Gomez, not only was Gatti stopped via TKO, he was taken apart.

In regards to Leben, the wear and tear has become obvious—his last two losses to Brian Stann and Mark Munoz are evident of that.

And at 31, Leben will be lucky if his career isn’t over in several years time. That and being the ultimate punch bag gatekeeper to the middleweight division. Gatti retired at 35 and Silva is on his way out at the same age.

Leben’s crime is his need to entertain the masses—blood, sweat, tears and knockouts that could go either way.

For what it’s worth, while The Crippler is still standing and banging and receiving said doses in equal measure, he’ll always be a fan favorite just like the late Arturo Gatti.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com