Having fought both UFC 311 judge Chris Leben and Kevin Holland, ex-UFC star reminds everyone of his longevity "in the game"

The promotion's first pay-per-view of 2025, UFC 311, has lived up to its hype. Despite Arman Tsarukyan’s withdrawal, all combatants delivered powerful performances and helped make the event a success. Meanwhile, an ex-UFC star has reminded everyone about his longevity in the game.

The bantamweight title fight between Merab Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov saw Chris Leben, Chris Crail, and Michael Bell being the judges to score the contest.

Senior reporter Mike Bohn posted on X about Leben’s cage-side arrival at the Intuit Dome, to judge his first UFC title fight.

"Chris Leben arrives cageside for #UFC311 and will judge his first UFC title fight tonight for Dvalishvili vs. Nurmagomedov"

The post caught the attention of ex-UFC star Derek Brunson, who commented:

"I’ve been in the game so long that my UFC debut opponent Chris Leben is judging UFC 311 & one of my last UFC opponent Kevin Holland is fighting on the card ! 😎 #UFC311"

Check out the original post and Derek Brunson's comment below:

Brunson made his UFC debut in 2012 against Leben and won via unanimous decision. In 2021, he fought Holland and also won via unanimous decision.

After sustaining a second-round TKO loss against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 285, he transitioned to PFL. He started off well by winning his debut fight against Ray Cooper III via unanimous decision in November 2023. 'The One' has a professional MMA record of 24-9-0.

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Dana White reveals that Arman Tsarukyan is going back to the "drawing board" post-UFC 311

Arman Tsarukyan, who was all set to lock horns against lightweight king Islam Makhachev at UFC 311, had to withdraw from the fight because of a back injury.

Meanwhile, Renato Moicano stepped in as the replacement and was submitted by Makhachev in the first round. At the UFC 311 post-fight conference, the promotion's head honcho Dana White was asked if Tsarukyan would get the next title shot. White responded by saying:

"No. He's going back to the drawing board. I don't want anybody to fight hurt, ever, but we've been in these positions before. We went down there with a doctor, went down there with Heather from the P.I... You miss opportunities sometimes, and he did. We'll see how things play out for him next year."

Check out Dana White's comments below: