Is Chris Leben Retired? Yes he is. Chris Leben announced his retirement from MMA on the show "The MMA Hour".
"It's been a fantastic, wonderful ride," Leben said. "I've landed more strikes than anybody out there. Definitely highs and lows, ups and downs, but I think I'm starting to realize that, for me, it might be time to make that transition away from competing and get more on the coaching side of things.
"After [UFC 168], I wanted to go back and reevaluate things, make sure that the decision wasn't based purely on emotion. That it was really what I wanted to do. And now, yes, I can say, I've really retired from competing in MMA."
Chris Leben recently signed on to become a team coach at Victory MMA & Fitness, a state-of-the-art gym in San Diego, CA. He says that while he always felt he was a good fighter, his true skillset lies in coaching.
"I'm 33 years old now, which isn't the oldest for a fighter. But like I tell people, it's not how old you are, but it's how long you've been doing it. And I've been doing this game for quite a while," Leben said.
"I've got a lot of years ahead of me. I would like to still have my head on my shoulders and have a brain when I'm raising kids and doing all the other stuff that I want to be part of. I think it might just be time for me to gracefully bow out."
One of the founding cast members of The Ultimate Fighter, Chris Leben retires with a 22-11 career MMA record, along with a 12-10 UFC record. He lost five of his last six fights.
"The bottom line is, I've been with the actual UFC now for almost 10 years and I really feel like I've kind of grown with them, parallel with them. In this sport, you're either moving forward or you're moving backward," he said.
"I really can't be upset. I've had a wonderful career. And again, I didn't start fighting until I was 21 years old. Back then you could actually get in the UFC, win and do well, just on being a tough guy. I was a tough guy, I had some techniques, and that always worked for me. But when you look at these guys now, like Uriah Hall, they're just a different breed of athlete than I am. The game has been evolving and changing so much, so rapidly, that I'm actually pretty happy that I can say I was in it for as long as I was in it."
"I really am happy, and I think that's the biggest thing. I just don't have that mean streak anymore like I used to. I really am in a good place. I'm happy with my life. I have a good life. I'm not angry at anybody, so yeah, pretty amazing, but I definitely turned things around. [My wife and I have] been continuing to walk down the right road, She's kind of like my 401k. I've got her in law school down here in San Diego, so only the brightest is in the future for us."
