UFC fighter Chris Leben is known for his aggressive moves and no-nonsense attitude on the Octagon ring.  His back-to-back losses to Jason MacDonald and Kalib Starnes, however, led him to abandon his usual fighting style for a more disciplined attack, which worked well for him during his bout Terry Martin last September – for about two rounds anyway.

During the final round, Martin's right hand sent Leben staggering, and the latter immediately reverted back to his old style.  Martin went down, sparing Leben from a third straight defeat.

Despite the win, however, UFC fans shouldn't expect the same old Chris Leben when he returns to the ring for future fights.

“It's a juggle,” Leben said 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… one of the things that is important to me as an athlete and as a coach [is that] I continue to improve my game and my understanding of the game.”

Chris Leben said that the changes he's made to his fighting style is not necessarily a sign of maturity, but rather an application of what he has come to realize from fighting in the UFC.

“I don't know if it's maturing or just realizing certain things,” he said.  “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.”

Besides, Chris Leben knows that his old ways would never have let him realize his dream of topping the middleweight division.

“I think probably when I fought Anderson [Silva] 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.”


-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: UFC.com
(Image Courtesy of UFC.com)