Chris Leben is fighting in MMA again, and he’s doing it to send Yoshihiro “Sexyama” Akiyama into retirement. The two former UFC middleweights will rematch at Black Combat 17: Vantablack on Nov. 21 at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea.
Black Combat announced the fight on social media on Oct. 7, according to Bloody Elbow. The promotion also confirmed it will be the last fight of Akiyama’s career. MMA Mania followed with the full rundown, and nobody seems more surprised than the people covering it.
The first one was a war
They met at UFC 116 in Las Vegas in July 2010. For nearly three rounds the two of them traded heavy shots, until Leben, down on the cards and running out of time, locked up a triangle choke with 20 seconds left on the clock. That comeback earned Fight of the Night and handed Akiyama his first loss in the Octagon. If you watched it live, you probably still remember where you were sitting.
It has been more than 16 years since that night.
Where Leben has been
Leben (22-12) hasn’t competed in MMA in almost 13 years. His last fight came in December 2013, a loss to Uriah Hall, and he retired afterward. His last MMA win goes back even further, to the 27-second knockout of Wanderlei Silva in 2011.
He tried to come back with Bellator years later, but Bloody Elbow reported the move collapsed because of health issues. Doctors cleared him in 2019, and he went to bare-knuckle boxing, where he put together a 3-1 record with three knockouts. He walked away again in 2021 after flattening Quentin Henry at the first BKFC KnuckleMania. Since then the 46-year-old has worked as a referee and judge, including at UFC events. Now he’s going back to the other side of the cage.
Where Akiyama has been
Akiyama (16-7) is 51. After leaving the UFC in 2015, he sat out more than three years before signing with ONE Championship, where he went 2-1 in MMA. Both wins were stoppages, one over Sherif Mohamed and one over Shinya Aoki.
His most recent outing was a strange one. In January 2024 he faced kickboxing legend Nieky Holzken in a custom-rules bout that called for boxing in Round 1, Muay Thai in Round 2 and MMA in Round 3. Akiyama got knocked out in under two minutes and never saw Round 2.
So his farewell at least comes under rules he knows. It also comes against a guy with famously heavy hands who has already beaten him once. The two of them will walk out carrying 97 years of combined mileage.
Quick take
I’ll be honest, I love this. Some matchmaker in Seoul saw two middleweights with a combined 29 losses and a legendary 2010 brawl and decided the world needed a sequel, and that’s the kind of chaos I’ll defend at any hotel bar. Leben hasn’t won an MMA fight since 2011 and Akiyama’s last trip into a ring ended inside two minutes, so nobody should pretend this is a technical chess match. My money says it doesn’t get anywhere near the triangle this time. One of them finds the other’s chin early, and we’ll know which one on Nov. 21.
