UFC 132 Middleweight Showdown: Wanderlei Silva vs. Chris Leben

Among the many MMA personalities that have, throughout the years, captured our imagination and made loyal followers of us all, Wanderlei Silva still remains a fan favorite even after frequently long absences from the Octagon.

A native of Curitiba, Brazil, the “Axe Murderer” entered the professional fighting scene at the age of 20 in the Brazilian Vale Tudo Fighting organization, knocking out his opponent via strikes. In subsequent years, Silva gained notoriety for his hard-nosed brawling style and the viciousness of his strikes, steadily climbing the fighting ranks from contender to IVC light heavyweight champion and dominant PRIDE Middleweight champion.

Ranked as one of the world’s best Middleweights, Silva has yet to earn a title in the UFC, arguably the biggest MMA organization in the world today. Slated to fight against fellow brawler Chris “The Crippler” Leben in UFC 132, Silva will be returning to the Octagon after an absence of one year and five months. During his fighting hiatus, Wanderlei underwent a knee surgery and was originally scheduled to make his return in UFC 130 taking on ex-WEC champ Brian Stann. Silva was eventually replaced by veteran Jorge Santiago, after the Brazilian expressed his hesitancy to face Stann. His reluctance to fight though has perhaps disillusioned many Silva fans and created doubts in their mind as well as questions that need answering.

Though only at the age of 34, Silva’ s body has arguably gone through lots of punishment throughout the years, mainly due to the Brazilian’s in-ring aggressiveness and his habitual “throwing caution to the wind” style, and even after pulling out a unanimous win over Michael Bisping, Wanderlei Silva looked spent.
The fight against Leben on July 2, 2011 is perfect stylistically for both Silva and Leben as both are raging strikers out to prove their critics wrong. Leben, a fighter seemingly incapable of being put away, is coming off of a KO loss to Brian Stann in UFC 125 and will surely be out for blood.

Will Silva be able to shake off his ring rust and exhume his “murderous” instincts to put the axe to Leben and become the third man to knock Leben out?

One thing is for sure: If the two strikers do pull the trigger on each other, the fans are guaranteed a fight of the night match well worth its money.