He's nowhere near the top in size of the MW class. At 5'11" I don't think he'd be the biggest WW either. He's always looked a little soft. ANyone know how much he cuts for MW?? Just a random thought, he seems to get overpowered by some of the other MW's and can't get off his back at times. Would he have an easier time with this at WW with his size, or be worse off with WW being the most stacked wrestling division??
I dunno how much he cuts but you can tell Leben is drained sometimes to make weight, I highly doubt he'd make 170 and better chance he'd even roll up to 205
He's slow at 185 and would look worse at 170 after cutting (IMHO). He is the gatekeeper at 185 but can still have some great fights at MW.
actually there ya go. solid article on it. Leben himself says " I walk around at 220, I don't think I could ever make 170" http://www.studiomma.com/2012/12/06...his-return-safe-fighters-possible-205lb-move/
205'ers are WAY to big nowadays. He does looked stretched at weighins sometimes, but that might be from not as good of cutting techniques as other camps. Plus if he shed some of the soft it would be easier. Curiuos as what has happened to his grappling, wasn't he originally a team quest fighter? His grappling keeps seeming to get worse and if he can't fight a rock um sock um robot fight he has no chance anymore..
Leben is like 5'10", and 5'11" is almost average for MW if you take into account that an inch or two is added to most fighters' heights. Anyway, the weight cut would drain his cardio more, and with all the wrestlers at WW, he would probably do even worse there.
check the article on the other post I left, straight from the horses mouth so to speak...considering 205
He might be able to make WW, but he'd have to completely change his diet and nutrition to do it. He isn't a very tall MW, nor is he particularly big, but he's very thick for his size-- I mean, if you look at the size of his trapezius muscles on his neck then you can see that he's a pretty thick guy, if not particularly large. He could definitely make WW, and in the process of doing so (changing his diet and physique to greater acclimate to the weight class) he might actually get faster and his cardio might get better, but the problem is that his greatest attributes-- his punching power and chin-- might not make the transfer as well as you'd hope, and what is Chris Leben without his iron chin and knockout power? It might end up being a transfer of attributes that wouldn't benefit him as well as staying at MW would. I'm not his nutritionist and coaches, though, so I don't know.
He probably needs to retire at this point. He's been around a long time and has took some major damage over the years. He's never gonna win a title, probably not gonna win another fight.
There are even more wrestlers at 170 and he would be even slower at 170 so how about he just improve his TDD.
