Leben's rise from the ashes complete with UFC 116 win

Typical Chris Leben, right? The guy takes a fight on less than two weeks notice, is essentially knocked out but won't go down and then pulls off a dramatic last-second victory. MMA's ultimate rollercoaster ride is back at a high point. Leben's probably nowhere near a UFC middleweight title shot, but he's seems to have pulled his life together and just made some nice bank in the months of June and July.That wasn't the case for most of his career. Leben struggled with alcohol for a long time. Once he said he was clean, his mind wasn't healthy, he decided to look for some enhancement before UFC 89 and was caught using steroids. Then came the disaster against Jake Rosholt at UFC 102. There were serious rumors that Leben's life was a complete mess and he was on the verge of making some career-ending decisions. Word was so widespread that it hit the offshore betting community and Leben was bet down 50 cents on the line. Rosholt wound up putting Leben to sleep.  Leben bounced back to beat Aaron Simpson in a slugfest two weeks ago at the Season 11 "The Ultimate Fighter Finale," and Saturday took out international star Yoshihiro Akiyama with a dramatic submission in the final 20 seconds of the fight.  "I'm overwhelmed," said an emotional Leben during the postfight. "It's been a long road and somewhat bumpy one for me. This is huge. My career and life are in better places than they've ever been. I got to thank my team, my support group for allowing me to do this." Leben, 29, is staying out of trouble between fights and it's paying off.  "I'm more than a martial artist. I'm a coach. I have a gym. I have a team," said Leben, as he pointed out one of his students in attendance at the postfight press conference. "MMA is my life."Things changed after Leben was facing the end of his career last August.  "For me it's different, it's not about proving I'm tough anymore. Now it's about inspiring the people at my gym. They say as we get older, we get wise. I'm getting lazier (when it comes to partying). I try to stay in a little better shape. I'm trying to lead a little cleaner life. It's a lot of hard work. You guys know I've [expletive] up before. I'm trying to walk the line." In the cage, Leben still lives that wild existence. He thrives when his back is put against the wall. In the past, he's pulled victory from the jaws of defeat on several occasions, but this one may have been the most impressive because he didn't use his thunderous left to finish things, he had to get creative.  "I do think a lot when I fight, believe it or not. When I went for the armbar, I realized he was letting me walk my legs up from the bottom. This guy's gonna let me triangle him. That’s when I decided I was going to go for the submission," said Leben. "I heard my corner, sorry guys I love you, they were yelling stand up, stand up, but I knew that submission was there."The win is huge. It should set another meaningful fight at middleweight for Leben. He called out Wanderlei Silva, but that won't happen according to UFC president Dana White because "The Axe Murderer" is sidelined until late 2010 following knee surgery.  Because of performances like this, favorite of White and matchmaker Joe Silva, won't have any trouble finding him another intriguing fight.  "He was literally knocked out, standing straight up," White said. "He was knocked out and in typical Chris Leben fashion, you could see him just snap out of it and keep fighting."White would love to have a dozen Chris Lebens on his roster. Guys who go for broke.  "We're entertainers.That's really what we're here for," said Leben. "Actually Akiyama, when I started doing the double fist, I looked up and he was smiling at me. He's like, 'Yeah we're in a fight. This is good. We're gonna get fight of the night.' I want people to say Chris Leben, he's coming out to fight." That said, Leben should get a healthy amount of time off. He just fought twice in 14 days and on repeated occasions he mentioned that he had little recollection of the fight. It sounds like he suffered a mild concussion.  "Afterward, I was talking to my guys and I said what was that at the end of the second round? He must've caught me in there," said Leben. "Because normally I remember fights in slow motion. I don't even remember the whole thing."For memories of this two-week run, he'll have some nice checks to frame on the wall. Leben won fight of the night at TUF 11 and cashed $95,000. At UFC 116, with a $75,000 fight-of-the-night bonus, he probably took home $161,000. Frankly, for stepping up on short notice and putting on such a show, the UFC folks should've probably slipped him a little extra cash in the back. Don't be surprised if they did, and he was worth every penny of it.  chuck liddell martial art mma fight mma training