Wanderlei Silva meets Chris Leben at UFC 132 in Las Vegas by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Apr 04, 2011 at 9:45 pm ET They wanted it, and now they have it. Following a long campaign on Twitter and in the media, middleweights Chris Leben (21-7 MMA, 11-6 UFC) and Wanderlei Silva (33-10-1 MMA, 3-5 UFC) have hooked up a meeting at UFC 132. UFC officials announced the fight earlier today. UFC 132 takes place July 2 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and features a long-awaited rematch between UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, and the only man to ever beat him, former WEC champ Urijah Faber. "Two fan favorites will go to war as Chris 'The Crippler' Leben has verbally agreed to face Wanderlei 'The Axe Murderer' Silva in Las Vegas July 2nd," UFC president Dana White stated in the official announcement. Leben is the opponent Silva has settled on after turning down a fight with Brian Stann at the summer event and after public call-outs of Chael Sonnen and Vitor Belfort. The former PRIDE champion is returning from an extended layoff after a severe knee injury he suffered while training for a bout with Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116 this past July. Silva most recently fought at UFC 110, where he eked out a split decision victory over Michael Bisping. Leben, meanwhile, is back in action after being upset by Stann at UFC 125 this past January. That set him back from his previous fight in which he stepped in for the injured Silva and surged forward in career momentum with a submission victory over Akiyama, which came two weeks after a TKO victory over Aaron Simpson at The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale. Silva vs. Leben is likely to serve on the main card of UFC 132, though its position could not be verified at the time of this writing.
Should be a fucking epic war. Hopefully these two have some chin left to make it interesting. I dont see it lasting the distance.
Hells yes!!! Somebody is gettin their bell rung in a bad way. The way Leben holds his hands wide when strikes gives Wand the perfect opportunity to blast right down the middle with traditional muay thai. PS - im throwing a party at bobs house that nite. You are all invkted.
Talk about a slugfest. As cracked as Wanderlei's chin is, what happens if Leben lands the left? My guess is Wanderlei is still a bit too fast for Leben and starts landing bombs first, but Leben isn't out until you put him out. The Stann fight was a bit deceiving because he ran into the KO punch, magnifying its force.
Get real Joe. UFC 132 will be headlined by Penn versus TBA and co headlined by the title fight between Cruz and Faber. Not to mention the card also includes Bader-Ortiz, Sotiropolous-Dunham, and my personal favorite, Dennis Siver versus Matt Wiman. You add the slugfest of Leben-Wandy, and this is stacking up as a real good card.
Concur with that. Well, I think it would be a great main event on a free Spike card. As a PPV, no way.
good fight. i hope to see silva bash leben into pieces. not sure how inactivity is going to affect him though.
This is an easy win for Wanderlei. Lebens stand up is sloppy and he makes Arturo Gatti look like sweet pea with his d.
Leben will beat Silva. Silva is going to gas and Leben won't. Silva gets his chin checked in the 3rd round. I don't care how sloppy Chris is. Silva was done years ago.
