Inside Source: Leben had "terrible weight cut"

Quote :

Chris Leben cut nearly 21 pounds in 24 hours to make weight for his fight with Mark Munoz, Fighters Only was told ahead of last night’s bout.

The 31-year old middleweight had “a terrible weight cut” and was in such bad shape before the weigh ins that medical staff were keeping a very close eye on him.

A source close to Leben told Fighters Only on Friday that Leben had been left “shattered” by the amount of weight he had to cut on weigh-in day.

He was in the hotel sauna from Friday morning hooded up and wearing layers of clothing as he sweated water out of his body.

His dehydration and general condition was such that one of the medical team backstage said Leben would be pulled from the fight if thing deteriorated any further.

As it was, the bout went ahead but Leben was noticeably tired by the end of the first round - frenetic though the pace was - and was in seemingly worse condition than when he fought Yoshihiro Akiyama, his last lengthy outing.

Munoz was able to cut Leben over his right eye and that prompted a doctor’s inspection, although the bout was allowed to proceed. But at the end of the second round, Leben’s corner withdrew him from the fight.

It was thought the blood was to blame but Leben also appeared to be hurt and exhausted; his corner deemed him incapable of winning the fight and felt it would be dangerous for him to continue.

Cutting weight is common in most combat sports. Unlike losing weight, which is done over time, cutting weight is aimed at losing pounds quickly, usually via fasting and removing water from the body, so the fighter can hit the scales at the specified poundage.

Once that has been achieved, the fighter immediately begins eating and drinking to replenish himself. By fight night he can be a full weight-class heavier than he was on the scales.

Done properly, weight cutting allows the fighter to have a size advantage or at least match the size of his weight-cutting opponent. But done improperly, it threatens the fighter’s health and has a crippling effect on performance.

Ze Sauze

My Opinion.... Here goes...

Chris Leben hired Mike Dolce "Dolce Diet" to get into incredible shape for the fight with Wanderlei Silva for UFC 132 in July. I personally follow Mike Dolce on his forums and video blogs and he took care of Chris leading up to the fight with Wanderlei.

This time around I don't think Chris went with Mike Dolce as his nutritionist. Leading up to this event Mike was heavily occupied with Thiago Alves as shown in his video blogs.

So I do not know if Leben hired a nutritionist leading to his weight cut this time around, and I do believe Mike Dolce was not involved this time around.

Chris did look BIIIG and tight at the beginning of round one and only seemed to swell up as the fight went on. I think a day in the sauna really fucks up your cooling system, heart rate, breathing etc. Heat stroke, heat exhaustion are real and dangerous conditions to play with.

So then the question is WHAT THE HELL WAS LEBEN DOING BEING THAT HEAVY UP TO WEIGH IN DAY?

Thats a question worth asking

Krieger wrote:

So then the question is WHAT THE HELL WAS LEBEN DOING BEING THAT HEAVY UP TO WEIGH IN DAY?

Thats a question worth asking

^^ Indeed it's a question worth asking.... the plot thickens..

Yeah I just don't get it. These guys know months in advance what they need to weigh on exactly what day...how can you come in 21 lbs over the day before?

Thats a real damn shame if this is really true.

^
I hear that SamG,
then again there are many fighters who cut upwards of 20lbs before weigh ins on a regular basis; because they are comfortable and have adapted there body to be able to do it. GSP is one of them and a prime example.

With that being said, they also have an extremely strict plan and timeline for the cutting; whcih begins many days before the actual weigh ins.

Leben did look terrible in the fight, energy wise of course; it is too bad the fight was stopped via cut cause we all know Leben would not have quit and although very slow he is still a very dangerous fighter.

It says in the article that it was stopped because he was hurt and exhausted, not because of the cut:

Quote :

Munoz was able to cut Leben over his right eye and that prompted a doctor’s inspection, although the bout was allowed to proceed. But at the end of the second round, Leben’s corner withdrew him from the fight.

It was thought the blood was to blame but Leben also appeared to be hurt and exhausted; his corner deemed him incapable of winning the fight and felt it would be dangerous for him to continue.

That makes much more sense, because that cut was not worth stopping the fight for (which, I guess, is why they didn't stop it for the cut).

He certainly did look like he had had enough for one night.
Maybe he was trying to come in bigger, as Munoz is known for overpowering opponents. If that was the case, I'm sure this will be the last time he tries this experiment.

You could hear him saying "I cant see, I cant see", while he was on the stool.

But he was DONE like dinner. He would have died from a heart attack if he came out again.

Yeah, I think he saw the "can you see?" question as an out, because he actually said he couldn't see when they asked him during the sencind round, then eventually said he was OK to continue. I think once he sat down on that stool, a stop to the fight started sounding a whole lot better.

Whichever way this goes... I like watching Chris fight... he'll be back. Whatever happened this time around I hope he fixes it.

Krieger wrote:

Whichever way this goes... I like watching Chris fight... he'll be back. Whatever happened this time around I hope he fixes it.

I think he will look better in his next fight. i think this was just bad planning for his weight cut and maybe for his training and prepping. He usually looks a lot more solid in his fights. even in the ones he loses.

Triggerman99 wrote:

Yeah, I think he saw the "can you see?" question as an out, because he actually said he couldn't see when they asked him during the sencind round, then eventually said he was OK to continue. I think once he sat down on that stool, a stop to the fight started sounding a whole lot better.

He did exactly what Chris Leben is expected to do in those situations, it wasn't an out; the ref said he would stop the fight if Chris couldn't see, and ask him again. Chris said he could see not wanting to quit, the fight continued and he went out and swung for the fences and tried to end the fight; with as little energy and time he had left in that round. Once he sat down he knew it was a vision issue and that he still could not see, therefore the fight to be stopped. Its shitty that he came in so big and had no gas in the tank, but he would never quit in a fight unless force to; and essentially that is what happened here.

He'll come back and as Krieg's said, I also love watching Leben fight cause you honestly never know what your going to get out of him; last second triangle of Akiyama as my main example or a brutal KO!

Didn't it say right there in plain print in the article that it was stopped because Leben was hurt and exhausted?

9Teen_AT4 wrote:

Quote :

Chris Leben cut nearly 21 pounds in 24 hours to make weight for his fight with Mark Munoz, Fighters Only was told ahead of last night’s bout.

The 31-year old middleweight had “a terrible weight cut” and was in such bad shape before the weigh ins that medical staff were keeping a very close eye on him.

A source close to Leben told Fighters Only on Friday that Leben had been left “shattered” by the amount of weight he had to cut on weigh-in day.

He was in the hotel sauna from Friday morning hooded up and wearing layers of clothing as he sweated water out of his body.

His dehydration and general condition was such that one of the medical team backstage said Leben would be pulled from the fight if thing deteriorated any further.

As it was, the bout went ahead but Leben was noticeably tired by the end of the first round - frenetic though the pace was - and was in seemingly worse condition than when he fought Yoshihiro Akiyama, his last lengthy outing.

Munoz was able to cut Leben over his right eye and that prompted a doctor’s inspection, although the bout was allowed to proceed. But at the end of the second round, Leben’s corner withdrew him from the fight.

It was thought the blood was to blame but Leben also appeared to be hurt and exhausted; his corner deemed him incapable of winning the fight and felt it would be dangerous for him to continue.

Cutting weight is common in most combat sports. Unlike losing weight, which is done over time, cutting weight is aimed at losing pounds quickly, usually via fasting and removing water from the body, so the fighter can hit the scales at the specified poundage.

Once that has been achieved, the fighter immediately begins eating and drinking to replenish himself. By fight night he can be a full weight-class heavier than he was on the scales.

Done properly, weight cutting allows the fighter to have a size advantage or at least match the size of his weight-cutting opponent. But done improperly, it threatens the fighter’s health and has a crippling effect on performance.

Ze Sauze

I would say that it does not say the reason they stopped the fight was because Leben was hurt and exhausted.

A combination of multiple things maybe?,
when I watched the fight he said "I Can't See"
when he sat on the stool at the end of the 2nd round.

So as much as a journalist would like to imply the reasons
were anything other than the cut and blood, I didn't see it that way imo.

Granted he did look totally bagged, but the only fighter I seen quit from being tired and battered was BJ (GSP #2)

There was no blood at the time of the stoppage. The cut was therefore not a factor. If the cu was dangerous enough to stop the fight, then it would have been stopped, regardless off whether Leben wanted to continue or not.
He and his corner decided to stop it.

Not bashing Leben by any means, but let's just call it what it is.

Did Nick have anything to do with this stoppage?

Im not saying ... I'm just asking.

Triggerman99 wrote:

There was no blood at the time of the stoppage. The cut was therefore not a factor. If the cu was dangerous enough to stop the fight, then it would have been stopped, regardless off whether Leben wanted to continue or not.
He and his corner decided to stop it.

Not bashing Leben by any means, but let's just call it what it is.

Of course there wasn't blood when the stoppage took place, the cut man wiped it all off as they always do;
I don't know what fight you were watching pal; but it wasn't this one.

Leben said word for word " I can't see" , and then in the interview after he was like "there was so much blood I couldn't see".

But hey, call it what you want cause your never wrong.
Could argue semantics with you all day but its a waste of time.

Back to point, Leben was out of shape for this fight; which was in no way the reason for him losing the fight.

Quote :

Did Nick have anything to do with this stoppage?

Im not saying ... I'm just asking.

Probably.
It's probably his fault that Leben fucked up the weight cut.

Leben smoked too much of Diaz's pot and had massive munchies... thats why he was so over weight....

I knew it!!

I am no Leben apologist, but to his credit when the fight got stopped the first time the conversation went.

Leben - I cant see

Doctor - If you say you cannot see I am going to stop this fight.

Leben - I can see.

That was well into his ass beating...

Did he look done at the end? Yeah...But he still showed some warrior spirit imo.

Yeah, there's quitting, and then there's quitting.
It's not like Leben just showed up for a paycheck and folded when things went south; I'm not saying that. I just think it was a matter of him knowing he had absolutely nothing left to give in this fight, so he opted to bow out gracefully instead of going out and getting pounded on- knowing he was too far gone to dp anything about it or be able to generate much offense of his own.

His only other choice was to get embarassed, so he chose to just call it a night. It's nothing to be ashamed of, but it is what it is.

Im not sure it was ego I'm pretty sure Leben thought he was gonna die. Man he was a physical wreck at the end of the round from the beating and the physical pressure Munoz was putting on him.

I've seen Leben fight in numerous wars where both fighters were completely bagged and both just swinging bombs; couldn't disagree more with trig and Kriegs. It was a issue of safety and putting a fighter in jeopardy of being hurt seriously due to the impairment, but I guess that is why we have these forums, to disagree.