Chris Leben – Mature and Dangerous

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By Thomas Gerbasi

After back-to-back losses to Jason MacDonald and Kalib Starnes, Chris Leben needed a win in the worst way when he took on knockout artist Terry Martin last September. That meant abandoning his ‘you hit me, I hit you’ style for a more disciplined attack.

And for two and a half rounds, it worked.

But in the final round, Leben, tired from trying to finish the fight in the second stanza with a triangle choke, got drilled by Martin’s right hand and was staggered. Apparently seconds away from a third straight defeat, the ‘old’ Leben resurfaced, and in a moment pulled from a Hollywood script, he waded back into battle with a left haymaker to the jaw, putting Martin down and out. Chris Leben was back in the win column.

“After I fought Anderson (Silva – a 2006 loss), I realized that I could beat a lot of people standing in front of them and swinging, but I’m not gonna beat everybody that way,” said Leben. “Technically, I said I’m gonna have to get more proficient. With Terry Martin, the first round I was very technical, the second round I kinda gassed myself out on that triangle, and the old Chris Leben came out in the last minute. At that point there was nothing else I could do, I suppose, except go for broke.”

So while the finish of Leben-Martin was talked about for weeks after its conclusion, don’t expect ‘The Crippler’ to be the same fighter that built up a 5-0 UFC record before losing to the future middleweight champ. Oh, he’ll still be exciting and aggressive; he’s just not going to give opponents an easy puzzle to figure out.

“It’s a juggle,” said Leben of the mix between being exciting and being technically sound. “The only way to get good is to put everything together. You’ve got to be able to move and be light on your feet and then at the same time, you have to sit down on your punches. You shouldn’t sit down the whole time you’re fighting, but when the opportunity presents itself, then you sit down and lay the heavy hands on. It’s just work, work, work, and continuing to improve. I think that’s one of the things that is important to me as an athlete and as a coach – that I continue to improve my game and my understanding of the game. So when I watch a fight – win, lose, or draw – I’m looking at my performance, how I did, and did I do what I wanted to do.”

It’s a far cry from what many expect of the 27-year old Leben or how he is perceived by the masses. Dare we say that this Chris Leben has matured?

“Don’t tell anybody,” he laughs. “I don’t know if it’s maturing or just realizing certain things. They say when we get older we get wiser, but I think it’s just that we get lazier and we realize that it’s harder work to go out there and fight like that. I’m not gonna last as long, my longevity’s not gonna be there and when I don’t train as hard I have to drop a ton of weight and that makes it even tougher. It makes the fight tougher, it makes me worry more. And when I’m more prepared I watch what I eat, I train a lot harder, I’m happier, I’m healthier, and I compete better.”

Plus, if he wants to achieve his dream of getting to the top of the middleweight division, his previous way of doing things just wasn’t going to work.

“I think probably when I fought Anderson I realized that I’m never gonna be a world champion doing what I’m doing,” he said. “Fighting like I was, I had to completely go back and revamp my entire game, change everything I was doing and not just rely on physical attributes.”

Changing things up wasn’t just a mental adjustment though. Leben also made a physical change, relocating to Oahu, Hawaii to live, train, and teach.

“Moving to Hawaii and having the opportunity to coach is something I love to do and I’m gonna continue to coach long after my mixed martial arts career is over,” said Leben, 17-4 in MMA. “I love the sport, I love working with people, and I love the camaraderie of the gym and helping people change their lives – helping them lose weight, gain self-confidence, going to their first fights. At the same time I like to push myself. I’m a competitor, I like to prove myself, and as I learn and improve, I like to test my skills, find out where I’m at and what I need to work on.”

Yeah, this is the same guy who wrecked havoc on season one of The Ultimate Fighter reality show.

“What people don’t understand is that I’m not a faker,” said Leben. “I’m an emotional guy, that’s true; I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but so has everybody else. But I don’t pretend to be anybody I’m not. Anybody that will train with me – and I get this all the time – will say ‘wow Chris, I totally felt different about you until I had a chance to work with you a while, and I see where you’re coming from.’ In the practice room I’m open, nice, receptive, and I want everybody to get better – that’s my goal. For people to judge me because maybe they’ve seen me after a few cocktails, that’s a different time. That’s not the time I’m practicing, that’s not the time I’m competing. I may go out and have some fun as well, but the answer is, people are quick to judge and they shouldn’t be.”

And when it comes down to it, he just wants to be judged the way all athletes should be – for their performances in the Octagon, on the field, or on the court. On March 1st , Chris Leben will get his chance to prove himself again, this time against debuting middleweight (and former light heavyweight) Alessio Sakara.

“I see this as a great fight for me,” said Leben, who has been training for the last three weeks in Seattle with Matt Hume. “I just re-signed with the UFC so I’ve got another two years here, which is wonderful, and I’d like to continue to work, continue to improve my skills and fitness, continue to work and train at my gym, and obviously the goal is to eventually become world champion. So the only way to do that is to not look at the end goal, but only what’s in front of you next. So right now, Alessio Sakara is the objective to get me to my end goal.”

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