TOP 5
46 | FIGHT AUSTRALIA fightaustralia.com.au
WHO: CHRIS LEBEN
WHERE: BELLATOR – UNITED STATES
Chris Leben and Silva met at
UFC 132 in a highly anticipated
bout. The two were expected to let off
fireworks inside the Octagon and on
paper the fight looked to be an all-out
slugfest, likely to go a full three rounds
as carnage ensued. The anticipation,
however, was short-lived with Leben
stopping Wanderlei at the 27-second
mark of the very first round. That was
the last fight that Leben won, going
on a four-fight skid afterwards and
subsequently retiring in the early stages
of 2014.
Leben took some time off and
almost a year later signed on with
Bellator. For this fight to happen
there are a few things that would
need to fall into place. First and
foremost Bellator is unlikely to sign
Silva to fight in the United States if
his pending qualms with the Nevada
Athletic Commission aren’t levelled
out. As of pen going to paper, Silva
still has a lot of work to do to ensure
that he can actually fight in the state
of Nevada. Although Bellator seldom
visits the ‘fight capital of the world’,
a lot of athletic commissions around
America follow their rulings when
it comes to suspensions and bans.
Should Silva make amends with one
of the most powerful sanctioning
bodies in the world, the path will
be paved for a rematch with Leben,
which is something that Silva would
undoubtedly want.
For this fight to take place the two
would likely meet at a catchweightof 190lbs (86kg). Silva last fought at
middleweight in 2011 and back then
he expressed his desire to not move
down to that weight anymore. The
fight could also take place in Silva’s
new home of light heavyweight,
but with Leben competing at
middleweight for pretty much his
whole career, a catchweight bout
would make the most sense.
Leben has seen a lot of cage time
and has been through some wars
over the years. In his past four fights
he took a lot of damage, so whether
that will have a long-term effect with
his return to action will remain to be
seen. Perhaps we will finally get to see
the all-out rock-em-sock-em robot-
style contest we all wanted to see in
2011 if these two did meet inside the
Bellator cage.WHY: