Chris Leben Says He Spent All His Money From Fighting On Drugs
Long-time UFC veteran Chris Leben recently called it quits after dropping four straight in the promotion over a three-year period. His final bout was a crushing TKO loss to Uriah Hall at UFC 168, a fight which saw ‘The Crippler’ dominated before being unable to continue after the opening round.
Leben has been known to dabble in the dark side of MMA during his 11 year pro career, and had tested positive for banned substances twice during the later stages of his tenure. Leben spoke recently with Frank Trigg over at MMAoddsbreaker about his troubled times in the UFC:
“It really is better now. The bottom line is, especially with all the illegal drugs, I was spending all the money I was making anyways. Six in one, half dozen in the other. I used to fight the way I fought, I didn’t give a shit. ‘Fuck this, I could die tomorrow, let’s go out there and I’m gonna fucking kill this guy!'”
“That fire, I’d be lying if I said that fire was still in me these past couple fights. It hasn’t been. I hate to admit it, but shit’s going okay at home. My life’s alright. I’m a lot more of a mellow guy. Just getting older, I guess. I don’t even know. I don’t know how to explain it.”
Leben’s kill or be killed style was a big selling point, and saw him conquer Wanderlei Silva, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Jorge Santiago, Jorge Rivera and many others during his storied career. Obviously there was a lot more going on for him than any of us knew at the time.
Fighting is by no means an easy career and the drugs that Leben was taking to help cope with that probably made it that much more difficult. It’s never easy for a career fighter to call it quits, but it seems that Leben made the right call on this one. Check out the full video interview below, and stay tuned to LowKick!
