UFC 116

[drunkaholic707]

Chris Leben agrees to replace injured Wanderlei Silva in UFC 116 co-main event

Fresh off a dominant win at The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale, Chris Leben (20-6 MMA, 10-5 UFC) has agreed to replace injured Wanderlei Silva (33-10-1 MMA, 3-5 UFC) and fight Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-1-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in the co-headliner of next week's UFC 116 event.

A source close to the event told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) Leben has agreed to the bout and is expected to sign shortly.

Leben scored a second-round TKO of Aaron Simpson on Saturday, and if signed, his fight with Akiyama will take place after a mere 12-day layoff.

UFC 116 takes place July 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Leben vs. Akiyama would take second billing on the night's pay-per-view broadcast behind a heavyweight title-unification bout between champ Brock Lesnar and interim title-holder Shane Carwin.

MMAjunkie.com passed along a report from MMAFighting.com earlier today in which UFC president Dana White confirmed that Silva had cracked ribs and was forced to pull out of the fight.

Luckily for Leben, the Nevada State Athletic Commission did not issue him a medical suspension after the Simpson fight, in which he suffered minimal damage.

With the win, Leben improved to 4-2 over his past six fights. "The Ultimate Fighter 1" cast member posted three knockouts wins in the span (over Simpson, Terry Martin and Alessio Sakara).

Akiyama, meanwhile, has been inactive since his UFC debut this past July at UFC 100, where the DREAM and K-1 HERO's veteran defeated Alan Belcher via close split decision for his 11th straight victory.

 

[heyzel]

looks like I won't be buying this ufc it's only one fight that I wanted to see now & that's brock vs carwin

 

[Johnny Truelove]

^ lol same here that card just turned chorizo i'll be hitting up a bar instead now...

 

[007SYBORG]

WITH WANDERLEI OUT,THAT REALLY SUCKX HARD.I HAVE MY TICKET AND WAS REALLY ANTICIPATING SILVA'S FIGHT (ASWELL AS CARWIN VS LESNAR).
FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mISS lISA]

surprised he took a fight so soon after his last fight

 

[BROWN GUERRERO]

Wand was ready to fight with a torn knee and hurting ribs until he found out 3 of his ribs were broken. Wand is the fucking man! Sucks he's out, but kind of good for me cause i'll be in San Diego that weekend and I was starting to look for bars airing ufc. Now I can just chill!

 

[drunkaholic707]

the card doesnt look as good now but never judge a book by its cover as they say plus it kicks off the 4th of july weekend so it should be dope

 

[T-Rip]

fuck that, this ppv just turned terrible. Not a surprise though UFC cant put good cards together for shit these days. There relying on nonames to put on a good show.

 

[drunkaholic707]

and those no name fighters are usually the ones who put up a great fight cause they are tryin to get there name known

 

[B-Buzz]

Brock vs. Carwin- fight everyone wants to see
Akiyama vs. Leben- I like watching Akiyama fight a lot, could end up good if he fights the way he did against Belcher.
Immortal Matt Brown vs. Lytle- Fucking sweet
Bonnar vs. K Sos- Will probably be sloppy entertaining. Shouldn't be on the main card though.
Pellegrino vs. Sotiropoulos- If George wins it should be an entertaining ground fight, if Pellegrino wins it'll be by smother.
Schaub vs. Tuchscherer- Ugly fight, just using Schaub on tv since he was on TUF.
Grove vs. Goran Reljic- Could be sick. Goran's the shit and Grove can be good when his chin holds up.
Seth Petruzelli vs. Romero- Kimbo Killa!
Dave Branch vs. Gerald Harris- Harris is gonna kill this guy.
Forrest Petz vs. Daniel Roberts- Dunno these guys.
Jon Madsen vs. Karlos Vemola- If Vemola smokes Madsen like he did to everyone in England it'll be hilarious. Otherwise Madsen by superior wrestling.

I think on a scale of 1-10, 1 being YAMMA and 10 being Pride Final Conflict 2005, this will be around a 7.

 

[T-Rip]

its not ppv worthy, should have put on versus

 

[Chuy Savedra]

From now on everybody listen to what Johnny & T-Rip have to say. They're so smart when it comes to MMA. Sometimes I feel like I should just stick to K-1 rather than drop my 2 Cents on anything from now on.

 

[Chuy Savedra]

From now on everybody listen to what Johnny & T-Rip have to say. They're so smart when it comes to MMA. Sometimes I feel like I should just stick to K-1 rather than drop my 2 Cents on anything from now on.

 

[T-Rip]

quit getting butthurt just cuz i dont suck the UFC's dick 24/7. I bet you cant even admit this has been a bad year of ppv's for UFC

 

[UCDgreek]

simple, dont buy the ppv then. or go bitch to dana white on twitter.

 

[Chuy Savedra]

Lol who sucks the UFC's dick around here? I'm an MMA fan in general. I enjoy every aspect of it unlike some folks. I can honestly say that the cards that have been put on have been awesome. No complaints here. You just need to stick to wrasslin' & boxing is all.

 

[theYOCarea]

Some people just like MMA and any of it's fights. I watch all the MMA I can, Bellator, Dream, MFC, WEC, UFC, Strikeforce, King of the Cage (Probably forgetting some). I also watch Fighting words, Inside MMA but I also enjoy all aspects of MMA which is where I think the line is drawn between the casual fan and the more "hardcore fan". I enjoy watching Boxing, BJJ tourney's, Kickboxing tournaments, I have watched college and even high school wrestling events. If you do not truly enjoy all the aspects of MMA it will make it harder for you to like events which do not contain "big names".

I have been to local small shows in stockton as well. If it has to do with MMA I will check it out and every once in awhile you will see some shitty fights but overall I enjoy most of them.

 

[drunkaholic707]

Sources: Despite protests, Yoshihiro Akiyama will fight Chris Leben at UFC 116

Fear not UFC fans; you'll get your required dose of "Sexyama" in July.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has learned from sources close to the promotion that despite some initial resistance to facing a new opponent, Japanese judoka Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-1-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has indeed agreed to face Chris Leben (20-6 MMA, 10-5 UFC) at next week's UFC 116 event in Las Vegas.

Akiyama had expressed some concern with the the late change of opponent, as Leben was selected earlier this week to replace initial foe Wanderlei Silva (33-10-1 MMA, 3-5 UFC) after "The Axe Murderer" was forced to bow out due to injury.

According to the U.K.-based Fighters Only magazine, Akiyama told Korean MMA blog Daum.net that he might elect to withdraw from the event rather than face Leben.

"I am not pleased with the change," the report stated. "There are just 10 days left until the contest for me to determine [Leben’s] threats and the time is insufficient to establish a tailored gameplan. Leben is also not as high-profile as [Wanderlei] Silva and that does not help me.

"If there is to be a replacement, I was hoping for a big name. I spent one year preparing hard for this fight and this news has come as a big disappointment. My motivation has waned. I do not know yet what will happen. ... In the worst case, I will not take part in the [UFC 116] event. We are working hard to resolve this issue."

While it's not immediately known what, if anything, was needed to persuade Akiyama, the sources indicated to MMAjunkie.com that the UFC is moving forward as planned with the Akiyama-Leben contest.

Featuring a heavyweight title unification match between current champ Brock Lesnar and interim title-holder Shane Carwin, "UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin" takes place July 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs live on pay-per-view.

 

[Johnny Truelove]

lol @ chuy dude reminds me of his mother cant keep me out of his mouth haha get a life homie if i say a ufc card sucked its because it fuckin sucked! lol you dont work for dana white, you dont work for the ufc loser grow up haha...

anyways its going to be fun seeing carwin knockout the piece of shit brock fuck yea!

 

[Chuy Savedra]

Lol chinga tu madre puto. Todo tu familia vale pura pinche verga. Fuck your mother.