Friend of our site


MMA Headlines


UFC HP


Bleacher Report


MMA Fighting


MMA Torch


MMA Weekly


Sherdog (News)


Sherdog (Articles)


Liver Kick


MMA Junkie


MMA Mania


MMA Ratings


Rating Fights


Yahoo MMA Blog


MMA Betting


Search this site



Latest Articles


News Corner


MMA Rising


Audio Corner


Oddscast


Sherdog Radio


Video Corner


Fight Hub


Special thanks to...

Link Rolodex

Site Index


To access our list of posting topics and archives, click here.

Friend of our site


Buy and sell MMA photos at MMA Prints

Site feedback


Fox Sports: "Zach Arnold's Fight Opinion site is one of the best spots on the Web for thought-provoking MMA pieces."

« | Home | »

Chris Leben wonders how much judo skills really do transfer over to MMA

By Zach Arnold | June 29, 2010

Print Friendly and PDF

“Well, the total is 14 days. It’s two Saturdays, so I fought one Saturday, I get one off, and now I’m fighting next Saturday. So it’s pretty crazy. I did fight one time in my amateur career, which obviously is a lot different than the top level of UFC but I did do it once before in my amateur career. But yeah it’s never happened in the UFC. I think the closest is maybe a month, Josh Koscheck, was about a month. So, it’s pretty exciting, we’re making history.”

“I just got home from my fight. I got home on Sunday, ate a large pizza, watched a movie with my girlfriend, passed out. I woke up and Joe Silva’s on my phone. So the first thing I was like, oh my body was hurting, I said, you know I don’t know if it’s a good idea, you know, da da da. A couple of minutes later, Dana called me back and they really wanted me to take the fight and actually after I woke up I started to think about it you know and you know I mean I’m a fighter, this is what I do. Right now is my time. I’m healthy, I’m not hurt. We only have a small window in this sport, so you know I’d be a fool not to capitalize on this opportunity.”

“My coach is very familiar with the style, so you know Sexyama they call him, you know he’s big in Japan, I think he dates a supermodel, you know he’s on some TV shows over there. He’s been fighting for a long time. What I see you know is he’s going to have definitely a lot more ring experience than Aaron Simpson. His stand-up is pretty tricky. I don’t think he hits the hardest in the world, you know but definitely poses some different threats than Aaron Simpson. I think that he’s going to have fast kicks, he’s going to be a little bit trickier, a little bit more crafty in the ring but he’s not going to have near the caliber of wrestling.”

“Well, he’s a judo guy and I’ve trained with a lot of judo guys and as much respect to them as possible, I don’t know how much of judo necessarily carries over. A lot of judo is throws and a lot of those throws rely solely on the gi. You know as a matter of fact in a lot of his fights he actually wore a gi back in the day in Japan, you know we don’t have a gi, we’re sweaty and I’m punching in the face. The game changes, sure.”

“I look at myself as a martial artist, not a fighter. The big difference is a fighter is an athlete. … My goal as a martial artist is to continue to grow and strive to get better and I think I can continue to do that and I will continue to do that for the rest of my life. You know, so as a martial artist over my career I’ve [taken] these steps you know, I continue to go out and I lose a fight and I go, OK, now I go back and I reevaluate what do I need to change and what do I need to improve. Also there’s the coaching side of it. You know I’ve stepped over into being a coach and a trainer and a corner man as well. I love everything about this sport and you know coaching guys from my gym is probably my favorite thing to do you know so I love not only helping them get better but I love watching lose weight, watching them gain self-respect and really watching a lot of these kids really turn into productive members of society instead of possibly going down a different route so you know this sport has done so much for me and it’s really helped me grow in so many ways, so many more ways than just solely my MMA career. You know, I’m just so grateful for it.”

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

8 Responses to “Chris Leben wonders how much judo skills really do transfer over to MMA”

  1. MikeJJ says:

    Nice one htx.

    Like Chris a lot! Hope he gets another late comeback KO in the 3rd after a fight of the night performance – that would be sweet.

    Lol…Dana always gets his man to do what he wants him to do.

    If it ain’t the money he always get em with calling their pride…

    “Do you want to be a ******* fighter” – two times in three weeks? 😛

    you bet Chris will…knock that overated and overhyped metrosexual bafoon back to Japan.

    For Pussyama or Bitchyama, regarding is concerns to fight Chris, this whole stunt is to get in the cage with Wanderlei who is still huge enough in Japan to steal some attention from.

    Hope Chris earns the right to fight Wanderlei next after he wins…

    That would be a sick fight!!!

    WAR CHRIS LEBEN!

  2. Akiyama fan says:

    yoshihiro will win in this fight – he is a world class judoka and much more skilled fighter, leben is a great guy but not a threat to akiyama…

    • Steve says:

      I agree that Akiyama is both the better boxer and the better grappler, but Leben is a threat to anyone who stands in front of him.

      The only guys he is not a threat to are jab & joggers like Bisping and blankets like a young Koscheck. Akiyama has a bad habit of standing in the pocket and trading. Against Leben, that could lead to disaster. Just ask Jorge Santiago. He was a better boxer and grappler than Leben too. Didn’t matter after Leben landed that big left hand.

  3. CapnHulk says:

    A surprisingly candid and eloquent interview. Part of me wishes that Karo Parisyan would rise from the ashes like some super-badass phoenix and ippon the universe, but I don’t think that’ll ever happen.

    Maybe my expectations are too high.

  4. David M says:

    You can’t teach chin or punching power. Akiyama is going to get KTFO.

  5. IceMuncher says:

    I put a little money on Leben and Carwin. I like underdogs with heavy punching power. I think Leben beats Akiyama standing, and I’m not sure if Akiyama will be able to take him down at will. Also, Akiyama started to fade in his last fight, which is not a good thing against a guy like Leben who still has KO power in the third round. Akiyama hasn’t fought since UFC 100, so he might be rusty. All of that applies to Lesnar as well, except for fading late in the fight.

  6. […] When I saw the Chris Leben interview with Fighters Only Magazine, I came away with the impression that he’s game for a war against Akiyama. He has a lot of guts but not a lot of technique and against Akiyama, that might make the difference in the fight. Plus, Leben talked about how his body hurt after the Aaron Simpson fight. I really do question the Nevada State Athletic Commission allowing him to fight on two weeks rest. No one is even bringing this up at all, but I don’t exactly see how it’s great in terms of fighter safety to be doing this. […]

  7. […] after fighting Aaron Simpson. Dana claims that Leben is fine going into this fight, but as we saw during Leben’s interview with Fighter’s Only Magazine, he was talking about how his body was sore coming out of the Simpson […]

Comments

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture.
Anti-spam image