MMAmania.com is reporting that Chris Leben has been sentenced to a jail stint that may jeopardize his next scheduled bout:

…middleweight fighter Chris Leben was today sentenced to 35 days in jail. No other details were available at this time.

As explained by T. Jay Thompson, a friend of Leben’s, the UFC contender turned himself in to Oregon authorities in order to settle a DUI he was charged within ‘05. Leben needs a travel visa after he was booked to fight at UFC 85 in London against Michael Bisping, something he would not qualify for without settling his debt with the state. Leben has been living in Hawaii and was unsuccessful in transferring his probation to his new home state.

Update: According to Sherdog.com, Leben has now been pulled off of the UFC 85 card vs. Bisping. The UFC was apparently prepared for this possibility and already has backup plans in place. According to MMARated.com, Nate Quarry appears to be one of the possible alternatives to face Bisping.

Hours after announcing the new main event for UFC 85, UFC.com’s official fight card has confirmed a rumored middleweight clash between Chris Leben and England native Michael Bisping. Bisping signed up for the event, slated for June 7, despite fighting last weekend at UFC 83, a TKO victory over the now-retired Charles McCarthy. Leben is also coming off a TKO victory, a 1st round win over Alessio Sakara at UFC 82. The new lineup:

• Thiago Alves vs. Matt Hughes
• Brandon Vera vs. Fabricio Werdum
• Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben
• Marcus Davis vs. Mike Swick
• Rashad Evans vs. James Irvin
• Thales Leites vs. Nate Marquardt
• Martin Kampmann vs. Jorge Rivera
• Thiago Tavares vs. Matt Wiman
• Luiz Cane vs. Jason Lambert
• Antoni Hardonk vs. Neil Wain
• Roan Carneiro vs. TBD

With Chuck Liddell off the card due to a torn hamstring, UFC brass was forced to scramble to make up for the loss of the scheduled headlining bout between Liddell and Rashad Evans. Earlier today, the new top fight was announced, a welterweight match between future Hall of Famer Matt Hughes and rising star Thiago Alves. While the addition of two high-profile fighters duking it out is an outstanding way of making up for the loss of the arguably the UFC’s most popular fighter, adding a local favorite is a huge coup for the UFC, especially on such short notice. Bisping, the outspoken winner of season 3 of “The Ultimate Fighter”, is a fan favorite on both sides of the Atlantic and should soothe most complaints of the event lacking the star power of its original form.

It’s nice to see a card full of solid, exciting matchups, title implications be damned. The UFC could’ve packed it in after the loss of Liddell and put on another Validation-esque disappointment, but Dana White and co. performed a noteworthy salvage operation. It’s ironic that part of that salvage crew was none other than Bisping, often noted as the captain of the last leaky barge called UFC 78. It’s downright karmic that Bisping’s first mate on that disaster, Rashad Evans, was in danger from being bumped from the main event to a dark match, only to be rescued by the Marquardt vs. Leites match being pushed off the broadcast in his stead.

Liddell’s faulty hamstring shook things up in a big way. While title implications did indeed take a backseat, the gap between the two iterations are not as wide as they seem at first glance. The co-main event of Brandon Vera vs. Fabricio Werdum will settle #1 contender status at heavyweight. Hughes vs. Alves realistically only holds contender value for Alves, but Hughes’ name alone makes the matchup a no-brainer. The longtime champ is relegated to Rich Franklin-status at welterweight, stuck on the top rung but no longer able to make it to the top, but if Matt Hughes is your division gatekeeper you’re doing something right.

The middleweight scene should also be a little less fuzzy at the end of the night. The return of Martin Kampmann against a born again Jorge Rivera should be a good gauge of where Kampmann is after a long injury layoff. Nate Marquardt continues his comeback trail in a rescheduled bout with the dangerous Thales Leites. Surprisingly, Bisping vs. Leben may be the most telling middleweight matchup of the night. Bisping’s drop to 185 has breathed new life into a division with one chief and a whole lot of indians; there are already premature and seemingly-lopsided rumbles in the MMAverse of a matchup with kingpin Anderson Silva. The magic 8-ball says it won’t happen any time soon, but any intrigue to an uneven division is welcome.

It’s also worth noting that White promised 13 bouts for UFC 85, which means there are two more fights yet to be announced. This level of overcompensation has reached Italian sportscar levels, but we’re not complaining.

Check out more UFC 85 content on FiveOuncesofPain.com!

MMA Junkie is reporting that a rumored bout between Rashad Evans and James Irvin now appears to be official for UFC 85 according to a source close to one of the fighters. Irvin will step in to replace the injured Chuck Liddell, who made his exit from the card following a nasty right hamstring injury.

Also mentioned in the report is the possibility of a middleweight matchup between Michael Bisping and Chris Leben being added to the show as well. With the cancellation of Liddell, the UFC is scrambling to add fights to the card. MMA Mania reported yesterday that Leben was signed to fight in London, so this fight looks like a matter of when it will be announced, not if.

Check out more UFC 85 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com!

Middleweight Chris Leben has indicated publicly via his MySpace page that he has signed a multi-fight extension with the UFC.

“I actually just re-signed with them,” Leben answered in a MySpace response to a question about his contract status with the UFC. “They’ve been great with me, they gave me what I wanted so I resigned with them. This next fight is the first fight on my new contact, which is pretty nice, so I jump up to 25 and 25 rather than 10 and 10 where I was at. You know, it’s still not what I think athletes at our level should be getting paid, but it’s a nice boost for sure.”

Under the terms of his new deal, MMAjunkie.com is reporting that Leben is guaranteed $25,000 per fight with a win bonus of $25,000. He had been publicly critical of the terms of his old contract, which reportedly paid him a $10,000 guarantee plus a $10,000 win bonus.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REMAINDER OF THIS ARTICLE ON SAM CAPLAN’S PROELITE.COM BLOG

According to UFC’s UFC 82 Event Page, the supposedly finalized fight card for UFC 82: “Pride of a Champion” has been changed from its previously reported lineup.

Middleweights Alessio Sakara and Chris Leben have been moved into the televised card for the event, while welterweights Diego Sanchez and David Bielkheden have been moved out. Leben vs. Sakara will serve as the third middleweight bout on the card, as surely the UFC is expecting fireworks from this matchup.The NEW finalized card is as follows:

MAIN CARD
• Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson (for the UFC Middleweight Title)
• Heath Herring vs. Cheick Kongo
• Alessio Sakara vs. Chris Leben
• Yushin Okami vs. Evan Tanner
• Chris Wilson vs. Jon Fitch

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Jake O’Brien vs. Andrei Arlovski
• Luigi Fioravanti vs. Luke Cummo
• Dustin Hazelett vs. Josh Koscheck
• John Halverson vs. Jorge Gurgel
• David Bielkheden vs. Diego Sanchez

Read more UFC 82 content on Five Ounces of Pain.com!

Rumors began circulating last week about a middleweight matchup at UFC 82 on March 1 in Columbus, Ohio between Chris Leben and Alessio Sakara. ProElite.com (SamCaplan.ProElite.com) has confirmed through Leben’s management that a bout between Leben and Sakara is indeed scheduled to take place.

“Yes, we fight Sakara in Columbus.” said manager T. Jay Thompson when contacted for comment via e-mail.

Thompson, who is also the promoter of the ICON Sport promotion in Hawaii, also added, “Chris has been in training camp for the last four weeks and is excited to test himself against Sakara.”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REMAINDER OF THIS ARTICLE ON SAM CAPLAN’S PROELITE.COM BLOG

Roman Modrowski is reporting in his latest column for the Chicago Sun-Times that Chicago-area resident Terry Martin has signed a bout agreement to fight Chris Leben at UFC Fight Night 11 on September 19 at the Pearl of the Palms.

Here’s Modrowski’s report:

Chicago’s Terry Martin signed a contract Monday to fight Chris Leben on Sept. 19 at the Palms in Las Vegas in a ”Fight Night Live” on Spike TV. ”Leben will sit there and bang with me, so this is perfect for me,” Martin said. ”He’s a big name, and it’s going to be on Spike, so it will be free and more viewers will see it.”

There’s no confirmation in the report as to whether Leben has in fact signed his bout agreement and there’s been no official announcement from the UFC.

The report is rather intriguing because Mike Swick made a recent claim in his blog that Leben turned down a chance to fight him at UFC Fight Night 11.

If this report is in fact true, it should be a very good matchup and one would assume it will make the telecast.

To read Modrowski’s full article, just click here.

Mike Swick has gotten on his blog and given his side of the story as to why a rematch against Chris Leben on September 19 at UFN 11 won’t be taking place. In the process, Swick also shifts his attention from Leben to Jonathan Goulet.

Here’s what Swick had to say:

Hey Guys,

Ok, so here is the deal…

Chris Leben said something about moving down to 170 and the UFC thought it would be a great time to have us fight. I was offered the fight and we accepted it immediately. We even told the UFC that we can do it at whatever weight class; I will give up weight if I have to get it done. So they were going to make our fight the Main Event of Ultimate Fight Night 11 on Spike TV on September 19th. Spike was excited about the fight, the UFC was excited about the fight, the fans were excited about the fight, and most of all, we were excited about the fight. Apparently Leben and his camp wasn’t. After almost a week of waiting for an answer he declined the fight at any weight class. This absolutely baffled me. We figured he was pondering what weight he wanted to fight me at and he was really pondering taking the fight at all. Is this the same guy who says he will fight anyone, anywhere, anytime? The same guy that promised me a rematch on the second episode of the first season of the Ultimate Fighter? Why would he pass up a main event fight considering he is coming off 2 losses? Who gets opportunities like that then passes them up?

I don’t mean to rant on but I am so upset at the situation. He has a win over me from a long time ago and holds it over my head any chance he gets. I think it’s absolutely cowardly to not give me a chance to avenge my loss. It’s not like I am asking for an instant rematch, it’s been over 3 years. If he’s better than me then why not take the fight and show the world in a main event on Spike TV?

Bottom line is, I am sorry to all the fans who wanted to see this fight. I was so excited over this last week and couldn’t wait to come to an agreement so I could post that after 3 years, you guys will finally see the rematch you msg me about every day in my inbox.

Ok, so even though the cat smashing crippler backed out, I am still staying on the Spike card on September 19th. This brings me to a whole new story for you guys….

Ok, so after hearing about the above mentioned backing out, Jonathan Goulet started trash talking me on the internet saying I chickened out of a fight with him as my next opponent. This caught me completely off guard since I never even knew he was in the equation. Or the UFC for that matter. Apparently he had been trying to get the fight from the UFC. I guess I can’t blame him, he is a very talented fighter who really wants to revamp his UFC career and a solid fight with me on Spike could do that, but what shocked me most was his blatant lie that I chickened out. Of course he followed that up with something along the lines about I don’t want what he’s got for me and that he is going to beat my ass, etc, etc, etc….

Since the other opponents we were trying to get an agreement with fell through, why not fight Goulet? I mean he is a good fighter and at least has some juevos. So Jonathan Goulet, let’s see if you can back up all that tough talk. Contract is in the mail, just sign the dotted line and let’s give these fans what they…well, get for free on Spike TV!

-Swick

I wonder if the contract is really in the mail. Swick wants the fight and Goulet wants the fight. But why would the UFC want this fight?

I’d much rather see Terry Martin vs. Swick. The UFC needs to start grooming some contenders for the middleweight title — and fast!

UFCJunkie.com has gotten exclusive word from Mike Swick that Chris Leben has refused to sign for a match against him that would have made the two the main event of Ultimate Fight Night 11 on September 19.

According to Junkie, here’s what Swick said:

“He backed out. He didn’t take it. It kind of sucks with how tough he talks about fighting anyone, anywhere. He kept saying we could rematch anytime.”

What’s Leben doing? Anything short of injury is going to make the UFC very unhappy with Leben’s decision. He’s not really in a position to be choosy when it comes to who the UFC would like him to face.

One of his biggest selling points was his willingness to fight just about anybody. This is going to hurt his stock. I have to wonder though if this might be an injury situation of some sort, though.

If Leben doesn’t want the match then they should book Terry Martin vs. Swick. I think that would be a pretty good matchup. Just to clarify, I don’t have any info on that. Martin vs. Swick is just pure conjecture on my part.

As some of you will recall, UFC middleweight fighter Chris Leben is no longer with Team Quest (he actually had been splitting time at another camp even before he left) and has accepted a head trainer’s position at the ICON Sport training center in Hawaii.  

In recent weeks Leben has been vocal about his current pay scale in the UFC and has talked about fighting for ICON Sports’ MMA promotion in the future. ICON Sports is the same promotion where Robbie Lawler, Frank Trigg, and Jason Miller have fought. 

During my UFC 71 preview on CBS Sportsline last week I incorrectly stated that Leben’s match vs. Kalib Starnes might be his last in the UFC. As it turns out, Leben is still under contract to the UFC and I believe he has a year left on his current contract. 

Leben has lost three out of his last four bouts but don’t look for the UFC to give him an early release. UFC president Dana White is a big fan of Leben’s fighting style and with so many card to promote, someone with Leben’s name recognition isn’t going to just be tossed onto the scrap heap.