With the newest season of UFC's Ultimate Fighter television show revolving around the wild escapades of Junie Browning, many are reminded of the original bad boy of MMA reality television, Chris Leben.
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| Leben says he is a different person. (UFC) |
Since leaving the Ultimate Fighter house, Leben has accumulated an 8-3 UFC record including victories over middleweight title contender Patrick Cote and surging American Top Team star Jorge Santiago. At Saturday night's UFC 89 on Spike TV, Leben has one of the biggest opportunities of his career when he takes on UFC's top European star, Michael Bisping.
It has been a long road for Leben, who attributes much of his success to more maturity and professional focus.
"I'm definitely a different person now," Leben says. "The show was four years ago. It was a younger, wilder Chris Leben. Definitely a little more rough around the edges. I've worked on a lot of things in and out of the cage and I continue to work on those things. It took the show to make me realize a lot of things about myself and my fight game that needed work. Without that who knows where I'd be."
While Leben has created a niche for himself as an exciting main card fighter, beating the popular Bisping is the sort of high-profile victory that opens up future opportunities. Leben recognizes this and is prepared for the challenges Bisping presents.
"He's got a great record," Leben notes. "From what I've seen he's fairly well rounded. I would say he's a solid fighter and there are no gaping holes anywhere in his game."
One potential advantage for Bisping in the fight is the fact that he has fought most of his career at a higher weight class. While Leben was fighting middleweights, Bisping was fighting light heavyweights like Matt Hamill and Rashad Evans. But Leben doesn't feel there will be much of a difference between himself and Bisping.
"He was a small light heavyweight," Leben says. "And he's not necessarily a huge middleweight. He's definitely a little taller than me, but as far as his strength goes I'd say I have the upper hand there."
UFC 89 will take place in Birmingham, England, where English native Bisping is likely to get a thunderous ovation. Leben relishes the opportunity to silence Bisping's fans.
"As an amateur coming up through the ranks, I've traveled out of town and been the bad guy before," Leben observes. "To be frank, I kind of like it. Making 20,000 people scream is great. But there's nothing more exciting than when you make 20,000 people shut up all at once."
An added benefit of being the villain to the live crowd is that you don't have to worry about living up to expectations or pleasing anybody. Leben says he would rather be in his position than in Bisping's.
"The pressure's on him," Leben says. "He's the one performing in front of the hometown crowd. I've just got to roll in and do my thing. I don't have to worry about impressing anyone or satisfying my hometown crowd. He's the one fighting in the motherland."
