Chris Leben fought and beat his hero, Wanderlei Silva, in their UFC 132 match-up, stopping the MMA legend in the first round.
Leben put Silva away with a first-round knockout, forcing the referee to stop the fight within the first 30 seconds.
This fight barely had a chance to get going before Leben landed a left hand that shook “The Axe Murderer.” After that, Silva tried to grab Leben to put him into a Thai clinch, but “The Crippler” threw several uppercuts and the Brazilian fighter fell the floor. From there, Leben finished off the fight by landing several punches to the side of Silva’s face, forcing the referee to step in and stop the action.
The stoppage came at 0:27 of the very first round.
Chris Leben KOs Wanderlei Silva
Leben, who defeats the biggest name he’s ever faced in his career, was still showing a ton of respect to the man he beat, just as he did leading into their fight.
“Wanderlei, I love you,” Leben said after the win. “You are my hero… thank you.”
Leben jumps back in the winning ways with his victory over Silva after dropping his last fight to Brian Stann at UFC 125: Resolution on New Year’s Day. The win also stands as his fourth out of his last five. Silva, who hadn’t seen competition since UFC 110 against Michael Bisping, drops his first fight since cutting down to middleweight. The man who was once considered the fiercest fighter on the planet may have his best days behind him with six losses in his last eight outings, spanning nearly five years.
Original story posted on July 2, 2011 by Erik Fontanez courtesy of MMAweekly.com
