Not too long after Chris Leben suffered a first round TKO loss to Brian Stann this past Saturday at UFC 125, one of Leben’s coaches, Burton Richardson, made a post on The Underground Forum explaining that Leben was rather ill going into the bout. That led to at least one article (see: Cagepotato.com) blasting Richardson for making excuses for Leben’s performance.
Once again we find ourselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. Wouldn’t fans want to know if a fighter wasn’t 100 percent going into a fight? I think so. Sure, it’s part of the sport. Guys fight hurt all the time. But I would argue that we can discuss any injuries, sickness, or other factors without assuming that it has to negate what the winner accomplished.
Personally, I don’t think Leben’s performance looked terribly different than some of his other fights. He’s always had a wild, reckless style, and he’s known for punching power, not hand speed. The only other man to stop Leben by KO or TKO was Anderson Silva. Leben can take a punch and keep going, and despite the stoppage, he showed that once again, taking some brutal shots from Stann before finally going down for good.
Leben hasn’t said a word and all Richardson did was say Leben wasn’t 100 percent and he’ll be back in there ready to compete in the future. Richardson didn’t act disrespectfully. He didn’t claim Stann’s win only happened because Leben looked sub-par. Anyone could watch the fight and determine for themselves that Stann earned the victory, no asterisk necessary, even with this information. And as his comment even suggests, Richardson was responding to comments from people who watched the fight wondering why Leben didn’t look quite like himself.
Personally, I’m glad someone shed some light on the situation. Not because of Leben’s in-cage performance, but because of how he looked backstage pre-fight during the cliche shadowboxing montage. He looked half asleep, drunk, and/or tired. Leben looked ready for a nap, not a fight. But as we’ve seen time and again from Leben, whether it’s fighting on less than two weeks notice or when he doesn’t feel 100 percent physically, he gets in there and gives it his all. He did that once again at UFC 125 and Stann won fair and square. If we interpret Richardson’s comments as making excuses for Leben’s loss, then we probably shouldn’t even bother with post-fight interviews, because you could probably find “excuses” of one sort or another in almost all of them if you really want to find one.