If you watched the first season of The Ultimate Fighter there is one thing that probably really stood out to you and that thing would have to be Chris Leben. Chris Leben was pretty much one of the keys to success for that first season, right up there with Josh Koscheck and Bobby Southworth, as what was important on that show was not just the talent of the fighters, but the personalities. Chris Leben was a very troubled guy at that point in his life with some unresolved issues that he needed to work out, which led to some crazy confrontations on the show as well as him being brought back to the house to pop ratings (which it did).
After his run on The Ultimate Fighter Chris Leben had a pretty remarkable run at Middleweight in the UFC, with a win streak that lasted until he ran into Anderson Silva, who was on his way to Middleweight title supremacy. From there on out it was a checkered career as a stalwart on UFC’s Middleweight division, but one thing was for certain; Chris Leben always had the ability to pull something crazy off once in a while, like his career resurgence in 2010. That all came to a halt when the losses started coming back as did the substance problems of his past.
Now on a four fight slide he has decided to hang up his gloves according to an interview with The MMA Hour today. We wish Chris Leben well in his post-retirement life. He’ll always be the catsmasher to us. [source]