Wanderlei Silva looking to return to UFC in April against Chris Leben
Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva, is anticipating an April return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship Octagon. Silva, currently rehabbing from knee surgery would like Chris Leben to be his opponent in his comeback fight.
Silva told Fighters Only magazine, “I think I want to fight in April in Canada. I want to fight in Toronto. I think against Chris Leben.”
Silva has not fought since February of this year, winning his fight against Michael Bisping at UFC 110 by unanimous decision.
Silva was scheduled to fight Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116, but had to pull out of the fight after he sustaining three broken ribs while training. Leben, who had scored a second round technical knockout victory over Aaron Simpson at The Ultimate Fighter
11 Finale, agreed to step in. Leben, fighting on only 12 days rest, submitted Akiyama with 20 seconds left in the fight.
Silva’s knee injury occurred while training for the Akiyama fight, but he had planned to battle through that injury and compete at UFC 116. In late July he had surgery to repair the torn ligaments in his knee.
Silva, speaking about his surgery, said he was on the road to recovery.
“ feel good, I start my recovery and I feel good right now. I tore my ACL, it was a really bad knee injury, but now I feel good, it’s ok.”
One reason that Silva may be looking at a fight with Chris Leben is that Leben called Silva out after he defeated Akiyama. In his UFC 116 post-fight video, Leben emphatically declared, “Come on Wanderlei, I’ll take you out too!”
Leben is currently scheduled to fight Brian Stann at UFC 125 in January. That fight may be in jeopardy as Leben was recently arrested for driving under the influence in Hawaii. This is Leben’s second DUI arrest and if convicted he could face jail time. He
is scheduled to appear in court in November.
The UFC does not have an official date set for a Toronto fight card, but they do expect to nail a date and venue down shortly. Lorenzo Fertitta, CEO of UFC parent company, recently stated, “We’re looking at, I think, sometime in late April. We’ll be in Toronto.”
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