Report: Martin signs to fight Leben

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.

Swick bashes Leben; calls out Goulet

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!

Report: Leben backs out of match with Swick

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.

Chris Leben still under contract

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.