At 35 years old, could 22-time UFC veteran Chris Leben be eyeing a return to the cage? “The Crippler” wouldn’t tip his hand but did admit he’s “training excessively” after recently completing his sentence at a California jail.
“I don’t want to preemptively throw anything out there, you know what I’m saying?” Leben explained to MMAjunkie. “We’ll just say I’m training excessively right now. What that means, I’ll leave it up to interpretation.”
In September, Leben reported to a San Diego jail to serve time after pleading guilty to multiple charges in connection with a June break-in at the apartment he once shared with his estranged wife. With his sentence now complete, Leben said he’s returned to training as a means of getting his body – and life – back in order, and he’s been pleased with the early results.
“Here’s the thing, you know – obviously I got suspended after I fought Mark Munoz,” Leben said. “Then that next year in Hawaii, I didn’t drink for a year. I moved to San Diego, and I didn’t drink; I didn’t do anything. I was only on the medication I was getting from my doctor. I would have told you I was completely sober, but obviously that did something to me. The medication, Suboxone, is definitely sedating. So now that I’m off of it, I’m just really motivated, and I have a lot more energy. When I’m in the gym, I have like this laser focus that I haven’t felt in years, you know?
“It’s really exciting to be in there training with these 21-year-old kids and doing well against kids that, you know, the next generation. I mean, they might be 21 or 22, but man, they grew up in the sport. They’ve been doing it for a decade already. And I’m in there, especially in standup, holding my own with them. I’m still gassing out by the end of practice, but I’m training twice a day, five times a week. The weight is slowly but surely coming back under control. So I’m trying to get my body back in order.”
Leben will soon be on the road promoting his upcoming autobiography, “The Crippler: Cage Fighting and My Life on the Edge.” In the meantime, he’s on probation, and he’s subject to random drug and alcohol tests designed to ensure his sobriety. Leben said the punishment has proven beneficial.
“I have to be sober, or I go back to jail,” Leben said. “So from that aspect, it’s been great. I’m so ‘everything in excess and nothing in moderation.’ I think a lot of us fighters are. So the fact that I have to jump through these hoops already is just really pushing me down a healthy path. So I’ve really been focusing on my diet and training and trying to get my body back to working order.”
LINK: Sober Chris Leben 'training excessively,' could a comeback lie on the horizon?
