Wanderlei Silva is an MMA legend. He held the PRIDE 205lbs title from 2001 until 2007, which included thrilling victories over Quinton Jackson and Kazushi Sakuraba. However after being knocked out by Mirko Filipovic in 2006, Silva’s success has been very mixed. He would be subsequently knocked out by Dan Henderson and in a third fight with Quinton Jackson, and decided he needed to reinvent his career. This involved dropping down in weight where he would lose a close decision to Rich Franklin at a 195 pound catch weight, and followed that up with a close decision win over Michael Bisping in his official middleweight debut. This is going to be his second middleweight fight, and owing to his career success, he is very close to the top of the ladder, and is probably two to three fights from a title shot.

Current Wanderlei Silva Vs Chris Leben Odds;

Wanderlei Silva - (-185) @ Bodog.Com
Chris Leben - (+150) @ Bodog.Com

Chris Leben originally appeared on TUF 1, and many view him as an unskilled brawler and gatekeeper. In 2010 however, Leben saw a career resurgence with two big upsets in a row over Aaron Simpson and Yoshihiro Akiyama, propelling him back into relevancy. However, in his subsequent fight against Brian Stann, Leben’s aggressive style would cost him dearly as he would be finished in the first round by the obviously superior striker. This is his return fight, and while very few believe he will ever receive a title shot, a win would undoubtedly get him a big fight.

This fight is going to be really tough to analyze. I think Silva holds the wrestling and jiujitsu advantages, however I’m not sure if they’re going to come into play. Silva has never been the type of fighter to try to impose his jiujitsu, and Leben showed against Aaron Simpson that he has fantastic takedown defense, and so it’s hard to imagine Silva taking him down. Further, Leben’s jiujitsu is pretty underrated, and it’s hard to imagine Silva holding such a stark jiujitsu advantage so as to actually end the fight with a submission hold.

In the striking department, there’s nothing about either’s style that tells me that either will definitely win. While I personally believe that Silva holds the striking advantage, he has not exactly been showing great striking in his recent fights. In contrast, many believe that owing to the aggressive nature of both fighters, the important variable in regards to the striking will be the ability to take a punch, and the person with that advantage is undoubtedly Leben. While I’m not so sure getting knocked out by Cro Cop, Jackson, and Henderson necessarily mean you have a bad chin, history tells us that getting knocked out cold once can influence how easily you can get knocked out again.

With all this said, I believe Wanderlei Silva is simply the better fighter than Chris Leben. He can lose this fight if he gets sucked into a slugfest with Leben, but if this fight takes any other course, I don’t see how Silva can lose. (Not to mention, even if Silva does get sucked into a slugfest, I still think the odds of him winning are close to 50/50). Silva was very competitive with Rich Franklin and Michael Bisping, both of whom are undoubtedly better fighters than Leben, and so I have to believe that Silva will get the win here. The Wanderlei Silva vs Chris Leben prediction is that the two briefly go to war before Silva finds his way on top, where he pounds Leben out with brutal ground and pound. However, I am very worried about Silva’s chin, and so I can only recommend a very small play at the current -170 odds, if at all.

Conclusion: The pick is that Wanderlei Silva finishes the overmatched Chris Leben, but with the current Wanderlei Silva Vs Chris Leben Betting Odds , only a small play can be recommended.

Available Wanderlei Silva Vs Chris Leben Odds;

Wanderlei Silva - (-185) @ Bodog.Com
Chris Leben - (+150) @ Bodog.Com