Fresh off a dominant win at The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale, Chris Leben has agreed to replace injured Wanderlei Silva 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-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. http://mmajunkie.com/news/19650/chr...nkie (MMAjunkie.com Feed)&utm_content=Twitter
On one hand this is a giant bumber, I was very looking forward to seeing the Ax-murderer fight Akiyama, because it really did alot towards pushing the winner in a title fight direction. An Akiyama win over Leben doesn't so much. Plus both are warriors, and it was looking like a great potential matchup. I thought Akiyama would beat Silva, but I really think he is going to beat Leben. On the other hand, this is a matchup style wise that may be even better. Leben only knows ONE way to fight, and that is straight away trying to throw bombs, and scrapping. The dude is as much a brawler as anyone that has come along in the UFC. Akiyama vs Belcher was a fantastic fight because both were willing to go toe to toe, and I see no less in this matchup. Should be a lot of fun. I'm interested in this fight ALOT. Plus, how awesome is Leben to step in and take a fight just two weeks after fighting Simpson. Dude is a beast. According to MMAjunkie, he apparently had his ribs cracked during training.
