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UFC 102 Pre-fight Interview with Chris "The Crippler" Leben

Interview by Steve "Spaniard" Valentine, Photos from NW Fightscene


UFC Fan Favorite, Chris "The Crippler" Leben, makes his first appearance in the Octagon since October 2008 when he takes on Jake Rosholt in a Middleweight matchup at UFC 102 this Saturday, August 29th inside the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Oregon. NW Fightscene Correspondent Steve "Spaniard" Valentine spoke with Chris late last week about his feelings coming into the fight and more...


NWFS: This is the thing I had to say, and you can run with this. A couple things... The first UFC in Portland and your first fight back since '08. How you feeling?
Leben: You know, I feel good... One. Regardless of where the UFC is, I'm just so glad to be able to get back in there and compete. That's what I do. Two. You know, it is in Portland which is my hometown. Obviously, fighting around the Northwest is where I came up and it's really cool for them to have a show back here. I mean we have such a big MMA following in the Northwest and it's an awesome, awesome deal for everybody here.


NWFS: Is there any pressure, any kind of nervousness coming to Portland with a bunch of friends and family and everybody you know?
Leben: Yes and no. Yes in the way that coming back obviously there's a lot of people I know that want to hang out and do this and that. I'm here for a job. You know what I mean? I'm not here on vacation. I'm here for work. I have to understand that and they have to understand that. And sometimes it's hard to let people know. I'm not here to hang out bro. I'm here to go to work. Also, having said that, as far as the fight goes, I've always said fighting is an internal journey for me. It's a test for myself of my skills. They can hang a black curtain around that cage when I fought. And in the end, I would feel one way or another depending on how I performed, regardless of who was watching.

 


NWFS: Now in talking about the journey, you've definitely had a long journey, ups, downs. Where do you feel Chris Leben is at right now?
Leben: Working hard. I mean I've had some ups and downs, some highs and lows, like you've said. But right now, I'm working hard to get my life and keep my life on track. And go where I want to go and be the kind of person that I want to be.


NWFS: Also fighting on this card is Randy Couture and Ed Herman.  From the old  Team Quest days... Same card, same city where you've started. Randy was your coach. Eddie was your teammate. You guys have any kind of pre-fight camaraderie going on here?
Leben: Eddie is obviously one of my best friends, and Nate Quarry is as well. I'm actually staying at Nate Quarry's house, and I've trained with Eddie today. So those guys absolutely.


NWFS: You're preparing to fight Jake Rosholt. He's a game wrestler. What's your training camp been like leading up for this fight?
Leben: Well in Hawaii I was working with my wrestling partner, Carl Barton. He's a Penn State wrestler. And also he drew in a bunch of really tough guys that he knew from college wrestling to work with. I flew Eddie out to work with me in Hawaii. Since then, I've been going back and forth between working at Team Quest - Matt Lindland, Chael Sonnen, Ed Herman and those tough guys - and training with Nate at Next Level MMA and Greg Thompson out there.


NWFS: Are you putting together a specific game plan, or are you just going to go in there and let them fly?
Leben: Obviously, at my level, I know I do what I do and he does what he does. That's pretty obvious. I'm preparing to fight a ground fighter. I'm preparing to fight a wrestler. I'm working on the things you work on when you're fighting one of those guys. If I was fighting a K-1 kickboxer, I'd been working on a different set of skills.


NWFS: Its been said that for Jake it's probably his make it or break it fight.

Do you feel he's a little more dangerous because of this?
Leben: Always anybody's dangerous. For Jake, obviously this is the biggest fight of his life. For me, I'm coming back after a layoff and after a loss also. I need to put on a show for the fans. I think for either one of us this fight is a big deal.


NWFS: If this fight was on the new UFC game, what move would you win by?
Leben: God, I don't know. I know it wouldn't be a high kick because they don't let me throw those in the game.


NWFS: So obviously you played the game?
Leben: Apparently I can't throw up the kicks. At all.


NWFS: What's it like being in a video game? Did you have to go down and shoot that or what did they do? Do they just shoot some of your moves and put you in it?
Leben: They took me down and took a bunch of pictures, and did some 3-D scanning and stuff. Other than that, they kind of made it up. There were no motion sensors or anything like that. If you notice, I stand regular. I don't stand southpaw in the game. They kind of just made all that stuff up.


NWFS: Do you play fans online? Nate Quarry was talking about in his last interview with us wanting to play fans online. Do you do that?
Leben: I've played twice. I got beat by my girlfriend's nine year old little brother.


NWFS: Ouch. So then if we put up a tournament with you and Nate against the fans, it probably wouldn't be a ringer?
Leben: No, definitely not.

 

NWFS: You opened up a new school in Hawaii... Ultimate Fighting School.

How's that going?
Leben: It's going really good. I've been coaching since early on in my career. It might be my favorite thing to do, even more than competing. I absolutely love coaching and watching and helping people grow. The gym - like any business endeavor - it's definitely kept me up a few nights as far as figuring out how everything's going to work, putting everything together. I've got to wear a lot of hats to do that. It's turning out to be amazing to have this wonderful facility where I can help change people's lives.


NWFS: Alright man, again we thank you a lot. We're really excited about your show. Good luck. Anybody you'd like to thank?
Leben: I'd like to thank everyone out at my gym, UFS. (Ultimate Fight School) Everyone in Oahu that helped me out. Special thanks to Nate Quarry for taking care of me while I'm out here and helping me prepare. Burton Richardson, my boxing coach, Joe Kim, and obviously Ed Herman. All the people that really pulled together to help me get ready for this thing. And Robert Follis
, we can't forget him


Get all the latest news from The Crippler himself online at chrisleben.com

His gym, Ultimate Fighting School, is located a couple blocks from the U of Hawaii in Honolulu at 1035 University Ave. Find out more at ultimatefightschool.com


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