Big UFC Rematch Official, Chris Leben Issues Statement After Retiring, UFC On Fox Preview
- Check out the UFC on FOX 10 preview above; UFC on FOX 10: Henderson vs. Thomson takes place this Saturday at the United Center in Chicago.
- The UFC has announced a rematch of what many have hailed the greatest MMA fight of all time between legends Dan Henderson and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. The bout is expected to take place on March 23 at UFC Fight Night 38 in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
Shogun recently rebounded from a two-fight losing streak with a first-round knockout of James Te Huna in December. Prior to that, the 32-year-old former champion lost a decision to Alexander Gustafsson and was submitted by Chael Sonnen. The Brazilian's former PRIDE FC cohort Henderson is on a three-fight losing streak, with his last win coming over Rua in their first meeting. Henderson dropped split decisions to Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans before getting knocked out by Vitor Belfort in his most recent outing.
Hendo and Shogun first met in the cage in 2011 at UFC 139, where Henderson narrowly earned a unanimous decision victory after five rounds of rollicking, back-and-forth brawling.
- Following his fourth straight loss, UFC veteran Chris "The Crippler" Leben indicated that he'd likely be walking away from the sport for good. In a post to his Facebook page, the 33-year-old confirmed that he's officially retiring to focus more on the coaching aspect of MMA.
Dear fans:
man, it's been a long couple weeks pondering this real big decision. My career was one hell of a roller coaster ride. Highs and lows and everything in between, but I wouldn't change anything. It's made me who I am today. And without all of you, there's no way I could have got through it. The facebook, tweets, emails, all the people that stood behind me through the ups and downs, you were my motivation and my drive. Thank you. But I gotta say, I've had the most fights in the middleweight division, I've landed the most strikes in the UFC, certainly don't have the best record, but my opponents always knew they were getting in a fight! The UFC is the cream of the crop. The UFC athletes are getting better every year. I survived almost 10 years in the gauntlet that we call the UFC. It's my time to bow out from competing, certainly not from this sport. Time for me to make the switch over to coaching, cornering, and helping younger fighters in any way I can. If you're in San Diego, I'll be coaching the team at Victory, please stop in and drop by to say hi. Yeah, I'm not going to make this a tear jerker, I'm gonna miss it, I'm going to miss you guys, thank you so much! Peace i'm out! LOL
Leben retires with a record of 22-11, with notable wins over Aaron Simpson, Yoshihiro Akiyama, and Wanderlei Silva, to name a few.