I don’t know if it was the uncomfortable stare down, the after-fight bug eyes, or the fact that Chris Leben didn’t resemble Butterbean during a UFC fight, but something finally clicked in his artificially-red head as he looked like his old self and came away with a long-sought victory. I was banking heavily on Terry Martin to take Leben down early in the first round, but The Crippler fought hard to keep himself alive after taking some hard shots to come away with the TKO win.
Even after he was caught grabbing the cage to avoid a takedown, Leben still took advantage of some of the legal octagon maneuvers by using both his hands and feet to position himself while holding Terry Martin in his gaurd. I really wasn’t expecting to see this kind of intelligent fighting from the tattooed Oregonian. I was honestly expecting another Leben-Silva ending.
We may finally see the old Leben again during future fights if he continues to train hard and drop his heavy drinking habits. He certainly has grown a chin to keep himself temporarily alive in the UFC Middleweight division.
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