A Closer Look At UFC 132: Wanderlei Silva vs. Chris Leben

With four entries down and only two more to go, “A Closer Look At ufc 132” is almost over, fans and friends. I’ve taken the time to give my in-depth analysis on the entire card, and now there’s only the co-main event and main event left. If you want to look back on the first day’s worth of posts, the first part of the series can be seen here. Part 2 is available here, with part 3 right here. And part 4 can be seen here. Now it’s time for a match-up that’s almost guaranteed to be one of the wildest brawls of the year. It’s Wanderlei Silva vs. Chris Leben, it’s the co-main event of UFC 132, and this is “A Closer Look At UFC 132”. Let’s get started.

Chris Leben is one of the original “bad boy” fighters that fans of “The Ultimate Fighter” developed a “love to hate” relationship with. Leben, as well as fellow Season 1 cast member Josh Koscheck, practically pioneered the “that guy” role on “The Ultimate Fighter”. You know the one: the guy that shows up and lives like a rockstar, seems to be only interested in his fifteen minutes of fame, and does several incredibly stupid things (usually with the help of large amounts of alcohol) that makes him an enemy of almost everyone else in the TUF house.

Leben’s UFC career has been an up-and-down whirlwind of good brawls, tough losses, and epic KO’s. At one point, Leben strung together five wins in the Octagon before running into a fighter by the name of Anderson Silva. Leben would go on to lose that bout and two of his next three. He would then go 2-2 before a big three-fight win-streak that included big wins over Aaron Simpson and Yoshihiro Akiyama. But Leben would falter once again, recently losing to Brian Stann via first-round stoppage. But even with his hit-and-miss record, it should be noted that Leben has usually been a very entertaining fighter to watch.

His opponent, Wanderlei Silva, is one of the biggest legends in the game. Known as “The Axe Murderer” and once feared as the scariest, most dangerous striker on the planet, Silva is now adored by many due to the respect he commands and the close relationship he has with his fans. Silva’s original run in the equally-legendary PRIDE FC promotion simply cannot be touched: Silva faced some of the best competition in the world and beat them all, winning fifteen out of seventeen fights with one No Contest and one Draw.

Dark days were ahead for Silva in 2006, though. Towards the end of 2006, Silva embarked on a downward spiral that saw him lose five out of his next six bouts. Even worse, three of those losses were by KO. It’s true that the losses were to some of the best competition in the world at the time: Dan Henderson, Chuck Liddell, Quinton Jackson, Rich Franklin, and Mirko Filipovic. But the huge win/loss disparity prompted Silva to drop to Middleweight for the first time in his career. In a thrilling back-and-forth exchange, Wanderlei Silva narrowly beat out top Middleweight Michael Bisping and breathed new life into his career.

Heading into this fight, I think one question and one question only will determine the outcome: will Wanderlei Silva’s chin hold up? I’ll never question Silva’s heart or fortitude, I know how badly he wants to win and I know how good he is when he gets fired up. He beat Michael Bisping, who is a great fighter and generally a better fighter than Chris Leben. But Chris Leben strikes harder than Michael Bisping, and he’s knocked out plenty of people.

Everyone knows this fight is going to turn into a brawl, and if Silva shows up ready and focused, I think he can win that brawl even though he’s coming in after a long layoff. But can Silva withstand Leben’s repeated power punches for three rounds, if need be? If he can, Silva will weather the storm and may even knock Leben out. If he can’t, Chris Leben may add another KO loss to Silva’s record.

And that’s another down and only one more to go! Stay tuned as “A Closer Look At UFC 132” wraps up with my next entry, which will take a look at the big Bantamweight showdown between UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz and former WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber. I’ll see you there, fans and friends.