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Chris Leben is willing to end his retirement for a fight against Jake Paul.
Fan-favorite former UFC star and retired MMA fighter Chris Leben had been competing in the sport of bare-knuckle boxing since 2018.
Leben’s most recent bare-knuckle boxing match took place at BKFC KnuckleMania on February 5th, 2021.
The Crippler faced Quentin Henry in one of the fight card’s marquee matchups. Leben defeated Henry via first-round KO.
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The fight at BKFC KnuckleMania was billed as Chris Leben’s retirement match.
And after his spectacular victory over Quentin Henry, Leben did confirm that he’s retiring from the sport of bare-knuckle boxing and all forms of combat sports.
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However, just days after his retirement, Chris Leben has now expressed his willingness to end his retirement and come back to fight Jake Paul.
In response to a Twitter user requesting Chris Leben to fight Jake Paul, Leben put forth the following tweet:
As of this writing, YouTube megastar and internet personality Jake Paul is yet to respond to Chris Leben’s statements regarding a potential fight.
Chris Leben and Jake Paul are at different stages of their combat sports journeys
Chris Leben rose to prominence as an incredibly tough fighter and a scary KO artist during his time in the UFC middleweight division.
Leben’s last MMA fight was a first-round TKO loss against Uriah Hall at UFC 168 in December 2013.
A few years later, in 2016, Chris Leben had signed a multi-fight deal with Bellator. He was set to return to the sport and fight under the Bellator MMA banner.
Nevertheless, Leben was unable to return to MMA and compete for Bellator due to health issues.
Leben didn’t pass a few health tests ahead of his MMA comeback, including several failed electrocardiogram (EKG) tests.
Fortunately, Chris Leben recovered in the ensuing years and was medically cleared to compete in 2018.
That said, instead of returning to MMA, Leben chose to compete in the sport of bare-knuckle boxing.
The Crippler competed in four bare-knuckle boxing matches and boasts a 3-1 record.
On the contrary, Jake Paul is at a very different stage in his combat sports journey.
While Leben has retired from professional combat sports competition, Paul is just getting started.
Jake Paul made his professional boxing debut with a first-round TKO win over AnEsonGib in January 2020.
This was followed by Paul’s thunderous second-round KO win over former NBA star Nate Robinson in November 2020.
Presently, Jake Paul is set to face former UFC fighter Ben Askren in a professional boxing match on April 17th, 2021.
Would you like to see Chris Leben fight Jake Paul? Sound off in the comments.
