Chris Leben Talks About His Hard Time

There's an article over at MMAWeekly.com recounting an interview The Crippler gave them about his recent stint in jail.  Some interesting tidbits about what the experience was like.

Leben said that despite all the images that people have about what being in jail is like, the experience was really just pretty boring for him:

For all the gripping images that jail sometimes conjures, it’s a monumentally boring experience. Especially for a guy like Leben, who isn’t exactly a mellow-yellow personality.

"It was claustrophobic," he said. "The roofs are really short, you’re breathing in all this recycled air, everything’s white concrete. You don’t have a lot of space; there’s no windows to see outside. Sometimes you have to sit down, take a deep breath, (and say) time will pass."

And it did, albeit like watching paint dry.

He also talked about having difficulty training and about how he was received by fellow inmates, being a big-time fighter and all:

There was no way for Leben to stay in shape. He was a highly trained athlete with nowhere to work out. He went old-school, doing push-ups and sit-ups in his cell. A modern MMA gym it was not. The prison administration wouldn’t even let him outside into "the yard." It’s not clear where he got this fact, but Leben said the jail had the distinction of being the third most dangerous in the nation.

"As soon as I started to do anything, everyone was like ‘what are you doing?’" he recalled. "Training martial arts probably isn’t the best thing to do around a bunch of felons."

You’d think that being a professional fighter might paint a target on his back, but Leben encountered more curiosity from his fellow inmates than anything else. They wanted him to show them some moves. Happy to oblige, he once demonstrated a choke on an inmate while 20 others watched.

"I told the guys it’s a blood choke, so you don’t have to squeeze hard," he said. "So I was just kind of choking him with one arm while he’s standing up. And I told him just tap when you start to feel like you’re going to pass out. Well, he didn’t tap, and at the time I’m going wow, this guy’s pretty tough, I’m surprised he hasn’t tapped yet. He just drops to the floor in the cell.

"Now I’m standing there with 20 prisoners around and they’re freaking out. This guy’s laying there, snoring like crazy. I’m like ‘it’s all right, it’s all right,’ then I realize they have cameras in here. I’ve just choked this guy out in jail – I could get in trouble for this. I kept telling them, ‘he’s fine, he’s fine,’ and it took this guy a minute to wake up. Finally he woke up and we had a laugh, and luckily I didn’t get in any trouble for it. That was beginning and the ending of my inmate coaching career."

Leben said he's looking to return to the Octagon sometime this fall.  And, according to another FanPost here at BE, his return will likely be in October against Bisping, the fight that was scheduled for UFC 85 but had to be canceled so Leben could do his jail time.