Chris Leben
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Early Career
Chris "The Crippler" Leben (born July 21, 1980) made his professional debut at Full Contact Fighting Federation's Rumble at the Roseland on August 10, 2002. The crowd saw Leben submit Justin Terherst, and thus witnessed the beginning of a nine-fight win streak for the Team Quest trained Leben.
On his way to a 9-0 record, including four KO wins and three submissions "The Crippler" made is mid-sized promotion debut, at WEC 8. At the organizations next event Chris took a step up in competition and became the first man to defeat Mike Swick, doing so with a convincing KO.
In his next outing Chris finally came up short, dropping a decision to veteran fighter Joe Doerkson. After the loss Leben came back strong with a TKO victory against Benji Radach.
TUF Guy
Now a professional Mixed Martial Artist with a stellar 10-1 record, "The Crippler" was selected for The Ultimate Fighter Season 1. On the show Leben stood out as an often crass, yet emotional character. Among other stunts he was the first person to destroy the door (and one window) of the TUF house, something that has become a strange tradition of sorts for future cast members.
During one particularly drunken rampage Chris Leben urinated on the bed of soon-to-be teammate Jason Thacker. The incident garnered Leben some notoriety as the only known bed-wetter to compete in the UFC. In another event two of his TUF house-mates, Bobby Southworth, and Josh Koscheck sprayed Leben down with a hose while he slept, and so began Chris' demolition of the home.
As a result of the escalating rivalry between Leben and Koscheck, UFC president Dana White paired the two in an elimination match. Koscheck won a unanimous decision in the exhibition but, scoring with take downs and effective wrestling. Leben was distraught, thinking his chances at competing in the UFC had evaporated.
Luckily for Leben he was given another shot, when team member Nate Quarry was forced to withdraw from fighting on the show, following an ankle injury. Quarry was given the option to bring back any previously beaten fighter, and chose "the Crippler". Chris was destined to lose again, this time being stopped by Kenny Florian, due to a cut.
In The UFC
Supposedly, Jason Thacker visited Dana White subsequent to the taping of the show, and requested a match with Chris Leben, citing the urination incident. Whatever the case, the two fighters would face one another at the TUF season one finale card. "The Crippler" whho had switched his training from Team Quest to AMC Pankration in the interim, absolutely destroyed Thacker, winning via TKO at 1:35 of the first round. Thacker has not competed in Mixed Martial Arts since.
That victory would be Leben's first in what would become a five-fight string of wins in the Octagon. Next came a decision over Patrick Cote, followed by an Armbar on Edwin Dewees. Chris' streak continued with a TKO of Jorge Rivera, and a decision victory against Luigi Fioravanti.
And along came a Spider. Or rather, the "Spider", Anderson Silva. After just :49 of unmitigated Silva fury, Leben's title aspirations had gone up in smoke. Leben used the loss as a motivating factor in refocusing himself as an athlete. In his next fight he knocked out Jorge Santiago with a stiff punch, and it appeared that 'the Crippler" was back on track.
Unfortunately another win streak was not forthcoming, instead Leben suffered a pair of back to back losses, for the first time in his storied career. Being submitted by Jason MacDonald, and then dropping a decision to "running man" Kalib Starnes left Leben at a crossroads in his career. Moving to Hawaii to train and gain more discipline Chris returned to the Octagon a visibly changed fighter. Since then he has won over both Terry Martin and Alessio Sakara, both by knockout.
After being forced to pull out of a UFC 85 main event against Michael Bisping due to a 35 day Jail term resulting from a probation violation from a few years ago, Leben eventually squared off with the TUF 3 champ at UFC 89. Leben was outworked over three rounds by the more technical and fast Brit, losing a unanimous decision.
Mixed martial arts record
| 23 matches | 18 wins | 5 losses |
| By knockout | 10 | 1 |
| By submission | 4 | 1 |
| By decision | 4 | 3 |
| Draws | 0 | |
Gallery
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