Tag: Wanderlei Silva

Chris Leben: The CagePotato Retrospective Interview

Chris Leben UFC interview
(“I want people to look at me and say, ‘Wow, this is where he started and look where he ended up.'” Photo props: MMA Weekly)

By Ben Goldstein

Over the last six years, we’ve watched Chris Leben evolve from The Ultimate Fighter‘s original wild-ass brawler, to a multi-faceted contender who has the tools to defeat virtually any middleweight opponent on any given night. In fact, two of Leben’s last three fights have resulted in the greatest victories of his entire career — his epic UFC 116 Fight of the Night against Yoshihiro Akiyama, and his stunning 27-second knockout of Wanderlei Silva at UFC 132.

On November 5th, Leben will headline UFC 138 in Birmingham, England, against Mark Munoz, in a meeting that could put one of them on the short-list for a title shot. We spent some time on the phone with the Crippler last week and discussed all the notable battles in his life that have led him to where he is today, facing yet another massive opportunity. Enjoy, and check out our previous Retrospective Interviews right here.

THE ORIGIN STORY

(Matt Lindland, overdressed as usual.)

CHRIS LEBEN: “I think I was in the fourth grade when I got into my first fight. I can’t remember what it was over — something on the playground. But that was my first real, non-wrestling match, hitting-each-other-in-the-face kind of fight. And all the other kids just stood around and watched. I didn’t get into fights a lot, but I definitely had some good ones, like all kids that are a little more on the wild side.

I did a little wrestling in grade school, and something called Christian Karate that I did in like third grade. Then I started boxing in eighth grade and I actually took that really seriously.

Even when I was in junior high, my plan was always to fight in the UFC. I joined Team Quest right after I turned 21. You have to remember that at 185 pounds, I was training with Matt Lindland, Evan Tanner, Chael Sonnen, Ed Herman — we were all in the same room, every day. And every day I walked into the gym, my first coach Robert Follis would say, ‘Good morning Chris, how are you doing?’ And I’d say, ‘Did you get me a fight yet? Did you get me a fight yet?’ I’d never say, ‘Good morning, how are you,’ it was always ‘Did you get me a fight yet?’ I believe it was about six months until I had my first amateur fight.”

Chris Leben UFC interview
(“I want people to look at me and say, ‘Wow, this is where he started and look where he ended up.’” Photo props: MMA Weekly)

By Ben Goldstein

Over the last six years, we’ve watched Chris Leben evolve from The Ultimate Fighter‘s original wild-ass brawler, to a multi-faceted contender who has the tools to defeat virtually any middleweight opponent on any given night. In fact, two of Leben’s last three fights have resulted in the greatest victories of his entire career — his epic UFC 116 Fight of the Night against Yoshihiro Akiyama, and his stunning 27-second knockout of Wanderlei Silva at UFC 132.

On November 5th, Leben will headline UFC 138 in Birmingham, England, against Mark Munoz, in a meeting that could put one of them on the short-list for a title shot. We spent some time on the phone with the Crippler last week and discussed all the notable battles in his life that have led him to where he is today, facing yet another massive opportunity. Enjoy, and check out our previous Retrospective Interviews right here.

THE ORIGIN STORY

(Matt Lindland, overdressed as usual.)

CHRIS LEBEN: “I think I was in the fourth grade when I got into my first fight. I can’t remember what it was over — something on the playground. But that was my first real, non-wrestling match, hitting-each-other-in-the-face kind of fight. And all the other kids just stood around and watched. I didn’t get into fights a lot, but I definitely had some good ones, like all kids that are a little more on the wild side.

I did a little wrestling in grade school, and something called Christian Karate that I did in like third grade. Then I started boxing in eighth grade and I actually took that really seriously.

Even when I was in junior high, my plan was always to fight in the UFC. I joined Team Quest right after I turned 21. You have to remember that at 185 pounds, I was training with Matt Lindland, Evan Tanner, Chael Sonnen, Ed Herman — we were all in the same room, every day. And every day I walked into the gym, my first coach Robert Follis would say, ‘Good morning Chris, how are you doing?’ And I’d say, ‘Did you get me a fight yet? Did you get me a fight yet?’ I’d never say, ‘Good morning, how are you,’ it was always ‘Did you get me a fight yet?’ I believe it was about six months until I had my first amateur fight.”

CHRIS LEBEN vs. MIKE SWICK
WEC 9, 1/16/04
Result: Leben wins via second-round knockout and becomes the first WEC middleweight champion

“That was the first time I met Dana White. He was actually sitting in the front row for that fight, so I went up and talked to him, which was a pretty big deal for me. At that point, I think The Ultimate Fighter probably wasn’t much more than a pipe dream for the Fertittas. But me and Dana talked about fighting Sakurai in PRIDE because he was a little big after his knee injury back then, and possibly getting into the UFC sometime.”

THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 1
January-April 2005

“I kind of look at it like boot camp: You don’t necessarily enjoy it while you’re there, but once it’s done you’re glad you did it. And don’t get me wrong, I had some great times on the show, some fun moments, and I learned a lot — both about fighting and myself — but if they said, ‘Hey Chris, we want you be a competitor on The Ultimate Fighter right now,’ would I jump at that opportunity? To be a coach, yeah, I’d jump at that. But to be a competitor and live in that house with all those other guys, at my age, where I am now in my life? Absolutely fucking not.

The top-tier of the martial arts world is a small world, and we’re the original [cast], so I feel camaraderie with those guys. Every time I see Stephan Bonnar we’re always telling war stories.”

On the previous rumors of Chris Leben being booked to face his TUF nemesis Josh Koscheck: “It’s funny, the guys at my gym know more about what’s going on in the sport from me. Half the time I hear about who I’m fighting from some random fight-school member that read it on a blog somewhere. The Internet’s not really my favorite thing, but I heard some people at my gym saw that idea being kicked around on forums, and I loved it, but the opportunity never came to me. I’d love to take that fight.”

On the next page: An ill-fated run-in with the Spider, going zombie-mode against Terry Martin, and the fight he’d rather not discuss.

Old School Fight of the Day: Wanderlei Silva and Mike Van Arsdale’s Vale Tudo Match

(Skip to 3:10 for the start of the fight) 

Since stepping in for the injury-prone Vitor Belfort against Cung Le, many of us have been wondering if this could be the last we will see of “The Axe Murderer,” and what a sad sight it would be to see him go. Well aware of the position he is in, Silva is training harder than ever, and in light of that, we figured we could showcase some of the brutal tenacity/soccer kicks that spawned our affection for ol’ Wandy in the first place.

(Skip to 3:10 for the start of the fight) 

Since stepping in for the injury-prone Vitor Belfort against Cung Le, many of us have been wondering if this could be the last we will see of “The Axe Murderer,” and what a sad sight it would be to see him go. Well aware of the position he is in, Silva is training harder than ever, and in light of that, we figured we could showcase some of the brutal tenacity/soccer kicks that spawned our affection for ol’ Wandy in the first place.

The above video comes from International Vale Tudo Championship 6-The Challenge, which went down in Sao Paolo Brazil way back in 1998. The victory would earn Silva his first shot in the UFC, which unfortunately would be a 44 second blitzkrieg at the hands of Vitor Belfort. Speaking of the UFC, future UFC light heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell was also on the card, earning a unanimous decision win over Vale Tudo legend Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons.

Whether or not we will be crying for Wanderlei to come back as he rides off into the sunlight, we will always have these brutiful (new word, called it) memories to look back on. Enjoy.

-Danga 

UFC 139: Cung Le Calls out "Keyboard Warriors"

Cung Le makes his debut in the UFC against Wanderlei Silva at UFC 139 on Nov. 19 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, and he is not going to take this fight lightly.The former Strikeforce middleweight champion told MMAWeekly.com that he expects …

Cung Le makes his debut in the UFC against Wanderlei Silva at UFC 139 on Nov. 19 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, and he is not going to take this fight lightly.

The former Strikeforce middleweight champion told MMAWeekly.com that he expects Wanderlei to be a dangerous opponent, despite his recent decline in performance:

He’s kind of like a warrior that has his back against the wall. A lot of times that’s more dangerous … Wanderlei is not ready to retire. He’s gonna be more dangerous, he’s gonna come and fight a lot harder. He chooses to step in the cage and so do I. It doesn’t make me feel good about myself to think I might be the one to retire him, or that he might get hurt.

Since Wanderlei lost to Chris Leben at UFC 132, many have called for Wanderlei to retire from MMA, with the common criticism being that Wanderlei is past his prime and is more prone to injury at his age.

However, Le squashed these criticisms and made his opinion on the matter clear:

It takes a lot to be a fighter, it takes a lot to step inside the cage and for people to say certain things that they don’t know about, it’s kind of disrespectful. There’s plenty of keyboard warriors out there that think they know it all and they never respect a minute doing what we do.

This marks Le’s first fight in over a year; he, has been inactive since June 2010, following a spectacular TKO win over Scott Smith at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Matt Hughes and 5 Fighters Who Should Retire

In the co-main event of UFC 135, Matt Hughes was knocked out by Josh Koscheck at the end of round 1. While basically everyone and their mother expected Hughes to lose his 54th professional fight, some fans held out hope that the former welterweigh…

In the co-main event of UFC 135, Matt Hughes was knocked out by Josh Koscheck at the end of round 1. 

While basically everyone and their mother expected Hughes to lose his 54th professional fight, some fans held out hope that the former welterweight king could at least be competitive.  

Despite no such luck, Hughes said in the post-fight interview that he would ask the UFC “to put me up on a shelf,” but he is not retiring.  

The next day, UFC president Dana White said that he was very confident that Matt Hughes would retire after his recent loss.  

Hughes, already a UFC Hall of Famer, need to call it quits after being knocked out in his past two fights, and losing four of his past seven. 

If Hughes decides otherwise, White may need to “Chuck Liddell” him into retirement, or convince him that the risk is not worth the reward after several devastating losses. 

Here are a few other fighters who could benefit from the Chuck Liddell treatment. 

Begin Slideshow

Watch the UFC 139 ‘Shogun vs. Henderson’ Press Conference Right Here at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

UFC 139 goes down November 19th at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, and the major players are convening at the San Pedro Square Market right now for a little press-conference action. Click “play” on the live YouTube player above to see Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva, Cung Le, and UFC president Dana White field questions from the media in attendance beginning at 1 p.m. local time.


(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

UFC 139 goes down November 19th at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, and the major players are convening at the San Pedro Square Market right now for a little press-conference action. Click “play” on the live YouTube player above to see Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva, Cung Le, and UFC president Dana White field questions from the media in attendance beginning at 1 p.m. local time.

UFC 139 Bout a Dream Come True for Cung Le, but Last Stand for Wanderlei Silva

Filed under: UFCCung Le isn’t the only fighter to find out the hard way that acting and professional fighting don’t always mix, especially when done in the wrong order, but at least he used it as a learning experience, he said at Tuesday’s UFC 139 pres…

Filed under:

Cung Le isn’t the only fighter to find out the hard way that acting and professional fighting don’t always mix, especially when done in the wrong order, but at least he used it as a learning experience, he said at Tuesday’s UFC 139 press conference.

“I actually learned my lesson the first time when I came back against Scott Smith,” Le said. “I wasn’t very busy training when I was on the movie set. I was just more focused on getting into character.”

He started off well enough against Smith in their first meeting in December of 2009. But his lack of training caught up to him in the final round, and Smith came out of nowhere to score the upset via knockout of a fading, winded Le.

When they signed on to face each other in a rematch some seven months later, he had every opportunity to make the same mistake. Fortunately for Le, experience — particularly the painful kind – is an excellent teacher.

“I was doing some film work, [but] I made sure I trained every day and I stayed in shape,” he said, adding that this time around, as he prepares to face Wanderlei Silva at UFC 139 in San Jose, Calif., he’s been in the gym since February.

“I am focused on this fight, so right now it’s all about being an MMA fighter,” said Le.

For Silva, who stepped in as a replacement for the injured Vitor Belfort, the stakes are even higher. UFC president Dana White has made it clear that he thinks Silva might need to hang up the gloves after his knockout loss to Chris Leben at UFC 132, and this could be the Brazilian’s last chance to prove to his boss that he still has some fight left in him.

“I love fighting. I love the sport. I grew up inside the ring, inside the Octagon. I want to fight as long as I can,” Silva told reporters.

When asked if he felt that his back was against the wall in the fight with Le, he didn’t argue. “Some guys fight better in that position. I’m thinking I am one of [those] guys,” he said.

Le, a decorated Sanshou kickboxer who turned to MMA relatively late in life and fought the entirety of his four-year career in Strikeforce up until this point, said he specifically sought out a deal with the UFC because he wanted to fight in the Octagon, and not simply because he wanted to be on this card in his adopted hometown of San Jose.

“It really means a lot,” he said. “I’ve fought on many platforms, different styles, but being a UFC fighter now, being the co-main event, definitely is a dream come true. Just earlier this morning I was looking at the picture where I was at the refugee camp, and now being in the co-main event of the UFC, it’s a dream come true. I’m very excited and I’m going to be ready to rock and roll and give the fans what they want to see.”

 

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