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UFC 138 Results: Where Did Chris Leben Go Wrong?

Let me be clear, putting me in the Octagon would be like putting Nick Diaz in a spelling bee: Brief, ugly and embarrassing for all. Therefore, it is with no little trepidation that I try to evaluate opportunities for improvement in Chris Leben&rs…

Let me be clear, putting me in the Octagon would be like putting Nick Diaz in a spelling bee: Brief, ugly and embarrassing for all.

Therefore, it is with no little trepidation that I try to evaluate opportunities for improvement in Chris Leben’s UFC 138 performance.

For what it is worth, here is where I think Chris Leben went wrong.

Impatience

Chris went for a guillotine from half guard early in the first round. It is easy to defend a guillotine from half guard and, as Joe Rogan repeatedly said during the fight, guillotines are resource intensive. They wear your arms out.

Rather than go for a finish here, that he could not get, he probably should have worked for full guard where the technique had a higher probability of success.

After wall-walking back to his feet, Chris took Munoz down. Unfortunately, rather than secure a dominant position, Leben took a couple swings while Munoz worked his way back to his feet.

The round saw yet another takedown by Leben but, again, he went for a front choke, trying to finish the fight rather than securing a position on top of Munoz, where he could have done some real damage.

Later in the round, Leben jumped half guard to attempt a guillotine (yes, again) rather than dragging Munoz to the mat and climbing on top of him, or swinging him into the cage and working there. The result was that Munoz ended up on top dropping bombs.

After getting back to his feet, Leben once again got hold of Munoz’s neck and dragged him to the mat. What did he do when he got there? You guessed it; he opted to put the squeeze on Munoz rather than working positional control.

The Crippler could have done more damage, and been fresher himself going into the second round, had he not insisted on trying to finish the fight at every turn.

The second round looked much like a bloody version of the first. Leben worked Munoz to the ground via a neck hold and squeezed like crazy rather than go for side control or mount.

Later, Leben would yet again get a chance at position on Munoz, but, in the attempt to finish via guillotine, Munoz reversed.

In addition to slowing down in the Octagon, Leben should step back and exercise more patience during training. He still flares his elbows and throws wide punches, which are much easier to avoid then more technical shots.

Further, he should fight like the southpaw that he is. He should keep his right hand high for countering his opponent’s jab and circle right more to set up the left.

Chris Leben has two big gifts, an iron chin and finishing power in his hands. Imagine what he could do if he was more technical and not always looking for the quick finish.

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UFC 138 Results: Why Mark Munoz Is the Toughest Matchup for Anderson Silva

After watching Mark Munoz throw vicious punches from top position towards Chris Leben multiple times throughout their fight at UFC 138, it became apparent that Munoz was officially someone to watch at 185 lbs.Munoz was able to score takedowns at will a…

Munoz was able to score takedowns at will against the always tough Leben. When Munoz got on top he mercilessly threw haymakers towards the former Ultimate Fighter contestant’s head, showing off some impressive ground and pound that would make Tito Ortiz and Mark Coleman jealous.

While Munoz is making tremendous strides with his stand up game, his wrestling is still his bread and butter—if he continues to blow out every opponent put in front of him, he will be fighting for a UFC title in no time.

Anderson Silva has looked nearly unstoppable for nearly six years now, but if there is any sort of blueprint to beat “The Spider,” it involves someone who can drag him to the mat and beat him down.

Chael Sonnen showed that Silva’s takedown defense is a liability when they fought at UFC 117, but despite landing over 300 punches he was unable to finish Silva and was eventually submitted in the fifth round.

If Munoz gets that position, the fight will be over within two rounds.

While Sonnen isn’t a finisher, Munoz has proven that he has some of the sickest ground and pound in UFC history, and if he started throwing bombs towards Silva’s head it would only be a matter of time before we have a new middleweight champion.

Sure, Munoz showed that he needs to tighten up his stand up and be a bit more careful on the ground, as Leben caught him with a few big shots and even scored a dominant position or two, but he would be far more careful against a fighter as technical as Silva.

Whether he gets a title shot in his next fight or has to win one more, it is only a matter of time before Munoz is standing across the Octagon from Anderson Silva—when he does, the odds are good that he will leave the arena with a UFC belt strapped around his waist.

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UFC 138 Results: 6 Amazing Returns After Long Layoffs

Tonight at UFC 138, English fighter Terry Etim made his return to the Octagon after being inactive for 19 months. In just 17 seconds, Etim was able to submit Eddie Faaloloto. The win not only put Etim back in the win column, but once aga…

Tonight at UFC 138, English fighter Terry Etim made his return to the Octagon after being inactive for 19 months.

In just 17 seconds, Etim was able to submit Eddie Faaloloto.

The win not only put Etim back in the win column, but once again got rid of the myth of ring rust.

Here’s a look at some of the other great comebacks after long layoffs.

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UFC 138: Mark Munoz Isn’t a Top Middleweight

In the main event of the evening, Mark Munoz continued his rise by defeating Chris Leben.Two competitive rounds of Munoz’s intermittent ground and pound resulted in enough damage to Leben’s face for his corner to call a stoppage.It is likely that Munoz…

In the main event of the evening, Mark Munoz continued his rise by defeating Chris Leben.

Two competitive rounds of Munoz’s intermittent ground and pound resulted in enough damage to Leben’s face for his corner to call a stoppage.

It is likely that Munoz’s next opponent will be the winner of Miller vs. Bisping. Munoz thinks he’s already proven himself though, and said he’s ready for the champion, Anderson Silva.

While Munoz did come out with the win over a dangerous opponent, nothing about his win indicated he was ready for the champion, or even the top five of the division.

Munoz’s greatest strength is his ground and pound. However, he doesn’t have the elite MMA wrestling to go along with it.

There’s no denying how impressive his pure wrestling is. He is easily one of the most credentialed college wrestlers to ever try his hand at MMA.

But his MMA wrestling simple isn’t as good. This was made abundantly clear in his loss to Yushin Okami. He succeeded in only 1-of-15 takedown attempts and did no damage on his successful takedown.

He would later be outwrestled by C.B. Dollaway before securing an impressive knockout victory, and landed less than half of his takedown attempts on Maia.

Even against Leben, Munoz was often able to get back to his feet without much damage. He even took down Munoz a few times.

If his standup were good enough to beat those enemies whom he couldn’t take down, then would still be a threat to top middleweights.

However, this simply isn’t the case.

In between stopping the vast majority of Munoz’s takedown attempts, Okami bested Munoz on the feet. Munoz would later arguably be outstruck by Maia.

Both Maia and Okami are unspectacular strikers. Maia has been improving, and his performance against Munoz was his best display, but historically his striking has been poor and his striking didn’t look too sharp against Santiago.

Ultimately, there is no top-five middleweight that Munoz has a huge striking advantage or huge grappling advantage over.

There’s no reason to believe Munoz would grapple much better against Okami if the two fought again. And if Okami could best Munoz, it should be easy to imagine what Sonnen could do to him.

And given his performances over Maia and Okami, it’s easy to imagine what Belfort, Stann and Silva could do to Munoz. While he’d have a wrestling advantage over those three, it wouldn’t be big enough to compensate for his huge striking disadvantage.

Munoz is an average striker and an above average wrestler, and he will probably continue to find some success before being pushed for a title shot. But in a division whose upper echelon has some of the best grapplers and greatest strikers in the sport, Munoz falls short.

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UFC 138 Results: The Real Winners and Losers from Muñoz vs. Leben

Birmingham, England played host to tonight’s UFC 138 event headlined by Mark Muñoz and Chris Leben. “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” defeated “The Crippler” by doctor’s stoppage between the second and third rou…

It wasn’t the most stacked event ever, but it was definitely a card worth watching with an entertaining main event.

Like most MMA events, tonight proved again that you don’t necessarily have to be involved in the fight card to be affected by its outcome. The real winners and losers often don’t show up in the record books, and tonight was no different as many outsiders were affected.

With that said, let’s take a closer look at UFC 138: Muñoz vs. Leben and examine who the real winners and losers were.

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UFC 138 Results: Questions Answered and Lessons Learned

UFC 138 is over and done with. Chris Leben couldn’t handle the athleticism, power and wrestling of Mark Munoz, and Renan Barao proved that he is an amazing fighter with an effortless victory over Brad Pickett.There were several other fights on the card…

There were several other fights on the card that answered important questions and taught important lessons.

In addition, there were occurrences outside the Octagon that also were of some importance.

So what questions were answered and what lessons were learned? Read and find out!

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