Former UFC fighter and WEC champion Chris “The Crippler” Leben has his second bare knuckle boxing fight scheduled against former Bellator fighter Justin Baseman on April 6th in Biloxi, Mississippi, and it seems that Leben has found the sport that suits his personality the best. Chris is still a fan favorite MMA fighter due to his brawler style and knockout power, so when he made his bare knuckle boxing debut against Phil Baroni in November of 2018, the expectations were high. But as he always does, Leben delivered with a spectacular first round knockout.
I got a chance to talk with Chris ahead of his Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship bout against Justin Baseman, and we discussed a wide variety of topics: Training, possible opponents, predictions, and even a return to MMA. It was an absolute pleasure to have a conversation with such a legend, and you can read our interview in full below.
Q: How has your training been different for bare knuckle as opposed to MMA?
CL: In boxing you can slug it out, you can just go out there and block punches and swing back and forth. In MMA you can do that as well, but to a lesser level. But in bare knuckle boxing you really have to focus on hitting them and not getting hit.
Q: Have you done anything to try to condition your hands for bare-knuckle?
CL: I have. My last fight I went out and I don’t know if I technically broke my knuckle, but I busted the cartilage in my knuckle, and that took a while to heal. I’ve always been in the mindset that I’m going to take care of my hands, and if I break them then I’m going to break them in the fight.
So what I’ve been doing- I don’t know if you’ve heard of a vibe plate or a gravity trainer- but a lot of chiropractors use them. They were invented by NASA for bone density, and these are the things that you stand on and they vibrate super, super fast. Well I’ve been doing knuckle push-ups on the vibe plate, and I don’t know how well it works, but we’re trying it out.
I remarked that Chris Leben was the only person I had heard of to use a vibe plate to condition his hands, and he had this to say:
CL: [My hands] feel better, I’m not going to lie, they feel stronger and more dense. Either that or I’m just getting used to the vibe plate.
Q: You’re fighting Justin Baseman on April 6th, who is a former Bellator fighter with a losing record of 18-20. What’s your personal opinion of him as a competitor?
CL: The thing about Justin Baseman is he has beaten some tough guys, and he’s been able to fight and be successful at a high level. Particularly of late, his record hasn’t been the best. So for me to fight him it’s kind of a Catch 22. He has nothing to lose, he can go out there and swing for the fences, slug it out, and if he catches me – you know this is bare-knuckle – then that’s huge for him. Everyone already expects for me to beat him, but if I make a couple of mistakes and let him hang with me, then you’ll
I want to train for the best Justin Baseman that anyone has ever seen. Prepare for the worst, and then go out there and hope for the best. In my mind, he’s never trained the way he’s training now. He’s never been as prepared as he is for this fight. This is his big shot, and I’m not going to be his big stepping stone, that’s for sure.
Q: Are you underestimating him in any way? It sounds like you’re definitely preparing yourself for the best.
CL: I’m absolutely not underestimating him, I’m doing everything I could possibly do.
Q: It took you just over a minute to knockout Phil Baroni in your bare knuckle debut, how long do you think it will take you to knockout Justin Baseman?
CL: The way that I look it at is you’re just planning for war. I’m planning that I don’t get the knockout at all. I’m going to go out there, use my angles, use my footwork, and outbox him. When you do that, that’s when the knockout tends to come. Usually when I go out and say I’m going to knock this guy out, that’s when I don’t get the knockout. It’s important to not set a time limit on things. I’m going to just go out there and fight to the best of my ability.
Q: You never got paid for your World Bare Knuckle Fighting Federation win over Phil Baroni, but now that you’re with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, are you more confident that your promoters will fulfill their duties?
CL: Yeah, like a zillion percent. This is BKFC [5], so they’ve been doing awesome. The fighting world is small, so several of the athletes in BKFC I know personally, and they’ve all said great things about the promotion and Dave Feldman the president. Everybody I know has gotten paid and said good things about the promotion. So 100 percent confident.
Q: Who is an ideal opponent for you to face in bare-knuckle boxing?
CL: I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I feel that the sport of bare knuckle boxing was tailor-made for me and the way that I fight. I love the idea of not having to worry about a guy running backwards and throwing spinning back kicks, I don’t have to worry about a guy holding me on my back, and I feel like I can trade with anybody.
I would fight whoever they want me to fight. I’m just excited to have the opportunity to get in there and compete in this whole new sport. It’s very fresh and very raw to be apart of it at this stage.
A name that I’ve seen thrown around is Josh Koscheck, if he ever wanted to compete in bare knuckle boxing. I feel a lot of fans would really want to see that fight.
CL: Yeah, me too. Just being honest, he would have to be an idiot to want to bare knuckle box me. Josh is a world class wrestler, and over the course of his career he has gotten substantially better. If you took away the wrestling and put us in there, then that would be it for Josh Koscheck.
Q: You came out of retirement from MMA last year, but you haven’t taken an MMA fight since then. Are you currently looking for a promotion to sign with, or are you focused on bare knuckle boxing?
CL: Well obviously I’m fighting at BKFC in two weeks, so my goal is this upcoming fight. Also, I’ve got a Submission Underground match on May 10th. I love jiu-jitsu as well, it’s been
I love training jiu-jitsu, but even for me being educated about the fight game, when I watch an MMA fight, and there are two guys out there slugging it out, taking shots, firing back bleeding, and then one guy shoots for a double and lays in the other guy’s guard it’s like, “dang it!” I wish they were still slugging it out. So from that point of view bare knuckle boxing is the most exciting thing ever. I still love jiu-jitsu, I still train jiu-jitsu, and if there was an MMa promotion that wanted to pay me the right kind of money then absolutely I would do it.
Q: Have you considered singing with Bellator?
CL: About 4 years ago when I wanted to come back, I signed a contract with Bellator, and then I found out I had a problem with my heart, so ultimately I wasn’t able to fight for them. Then years go by, I get healthy again, and I contacted Bellator but they didn’t get back.
I understand, they invested some money in me and it didn’t work out the first time. I don’t know, down the road if they contact me and give me a zillion dollars then sure, but I may have found a home here (with bare knuckle boxing). Hopefully a few years down the road Bellator is contacting me, and I’m telling them I’m happy where I’m at.
Q: So if you never compete in MMA again, you would be satisfied?
CL: I mean, yes and no. MMA is apart of my life, I train and teach MMA everyday at my gym in San Diego. I’m an MMA referee here in Southern California, so every weekend or every other weekend I’m at a show somewhere in this country refereeing MMA. It is apart of my life, I do love it, but also I’m really excited to be involved with bare knuckle and the freshness of it.
I don’t think you can come up with a more exciting sport than bare-knuckle boxing, I can’t think of one. There’s no resting, there’s no I’m going to hold you down or hold you against the cage. It’s the best part of an MMA fight the whole time. It’s like when you get that bag of all red Life Savers and you don’t have to deal with the other colors.
Q: Recently there has been a theme of legend’s fights in MMA. We’ve had Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz, it looks like we’re getting Vitor Belfort and Roy Jones Jr., would you be interested in anything like that? Perhaps against Chuck Liddell or Tito Ortiz?
CL: I mean, yeah, I’m certainly not above it. I’m just so happy to be healthy and go out there and compete and do what I love to do. Any of those, if they make sense financially then I would be 100 percent down.
Q: What is your prediction for April 6th?
CL: For my fight personally, I’m ready for war. I’m anticipating no less than the best Justin Baseman ever, and I’m ready for it.
Chris Leben fights Justin Baseman on April 6th at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum, and the event is available on pay-per-view.
