The UFC’s UK office announced today that the original plan of not having a UK show this year has changed as the promotion is planning on bringing the Octagon back to the LG Arena in Birmingham for UFC 138. According to the Twitter post above, the show will be underwhelmingly headlined by a middleweight match-up between Mark Munoz and Chris Leben. Sorry Josh Koscheck.
Munoz is 3-0 in his past three outings with a knockout win over C.B. Dollaway at UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann and a pair of decisions — one over Aaron Simpson at UFC 123, and most recently against Demian Maia at UFC 131. His last loss came in August of 2010 when he lost a split decision to Yushin Okami.
Leben is 4-1 in his last five bouts since bouncing back from back-to-back losses to Michael Bisping and Jake Rosholt in 2008-2009. His last loss came against Brian Stann at UFC 125 in January. His biggest wins of the past two years (besides escaping jail time for his second DUI) came against Yoshihiro Akiyama (UFC 116) and Wanderlei Silva (UFC 132).
Although it’s likely that the winner of Stann vs. Sonnen at UFC 136 in October will get the winner of the UFC at UFC 134 Silva vs. Okami bout in August, it’s looking like the winner of this bout could be the number two contender, which just proves that the UFC needs to bolster its middleweight class. A few light heavyweights need to get on the Dolce Diet.
Munoz should not think of going toe to toe with Chris, or maybe his training camp knows that he should go back to basic like when he fought Grove and Jensen. He should utilize his ground and pound wrestling skills. As of Chris he should do what e does best swing his left hook and hope for the best.