tuco
26th May 2006, 01:07 PM
MMAWeekly has confirmed the rumors of Chris Leben and Anderson Silva facing off on the June 28th "Ultimate Fight Night" card. Sources from inside American Martial Arts Academy (AMC) Pankration told MMAWeekly Chris Leben signed on the dotted line last night.
MMAWeekly spoke with representatives of Anderson Silva who also confirmed the bout agreement has been signed.
Leben, who has a 15-1-0 professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) record, appeared on season one of “The Ultimate Fighter,” and has a 5-0-0 record in UFC competition. Leben holds wins over Mike Swick, Edwin Dewees, Patrick Cote and Jorge Rivera, to name a few.
Anderson Silva was recently added to the UFC’s already deep middleweight division and has accumulated a professional MMA record of 15-4-0. Silva, best known for his technical striking, holds victories over some impressive names: Jeremy Horn, Carlos Newton, Lee Murray, Curtis Stout, Jorge Rivera and Tony Fryklund are some of them. Although this will be Anderson Silva’s UFC debut, the bout could easily be billed as a number one contender’s match.
When MMAWeekly interviewed UFC Middleweight Champion Rich “Ace” Franklin on Wednesday, Franklin was asked specifically about the Leben and Silva fight. Franklin commented, “I just found out about this fight . . . That they either signed or possibly signed or something. I was sitting, thinking about it earlier, and I thought what a great fight. Anderson Silva, his stand up is so; he’s so technical on his feet, but Leben has got a chin of granite . . . That would definitely be a good match up.”
Rich went on to say, “I think, right now, the four strongest contenders in the weight class would be Silva, Marquardt, Mike Swick, and Leben. And not necessarily in the order I named them, but they’re the four strongest competitors. And I believe any one of those four would possibly be fighting for the title sometime within the next year.”
The addition of Anderson Silva to the UFC’s stable of fighters certainly raises the stock of their middleweight division. Matching him up with Chris Leben for his UFC debut indicated the UFC has big plans for both fighters. The best part is it will air live on free television.
Source (http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=2132&zoneid=2)
MMAWeekly spoke with representatives of Anderson Silva who also confirmed the bout agreement has been signed.
Leben, who has a 15-1-0 professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) record, appeared on season one of “The Ultimate Fighter,” and has a 5-0-0 record in UFC competition. Leben holds wins over Mike Swick, Edwin Dewees, Patrick Cote and Jorge Rivera, to name a few.
Anderson Silva was recently added to the UFC’s already deep middleweight division and has accumulated a professional MMA record of 15-4-0. Silva, best known for his technical striking, holds victories over some impressive names: Jeremy Horn, Carlos Newton, Lee Murray, Curtis Stout, Jorge Rivera and Tony Fryklund are some of them. Although this will be Anderson Silva’s UFC debut, the bout could easily be billed as a number one contender’s match.
When MMAWeekly interviewed UFC Middleweight Champion Rich “Ace” Franklin on Wednesday, Franklin was asked specifically about the Leben and Silva fight. Franklin commented, “I just found out about this fight . . . That they either signed or possibly signed or something. I was sitting, thinking about it earlier, and I thought what a great fight. Anderson Silva, his stand up is so; he’s so technical on his feet, but Leben has got a chin of granite . . . That would definitely be a good match up.”
Rich went on to say, “I think, right now, the four strongest contenders in the weight class would be Silva, Marquardt, Mike Swick, and Leben. And not necessarily in the order I named them, but they’re the four strongest competitors. And I believe any one of those four would possibly be fighting for the title sometime within the next year.”
The addition of Anderson Silva to the UFC’s stable of fighters certainly raises the stock of their middleweight division. Matching him up with Chris Leben for his UFC debut indicated the UFC has big plans for both fighters. The best part is it will air live on free television.
Source (http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=2132&zoneid=2)