“I am not pleased with the change. There are just ten days left until the contest for me to determine [Chris Leben’s] threats and the time is insufficient to establish a tailored gameplan. Leben is also not as high-profile as [Wanderlei] Silva and that does not help me.”
“If there is to be a replacement I was hoping for a big name. I spent one year preparing hard for this fight and this news has come as a big disappointment, my motivation has waned. I do not know yet what will happen. .. In the worst case, I will not take part in the [UFC 116] event. We are working hard to resolve this issue.”
Yoshihio Akiyama May Turn Down UFC 116 Replacement Chris Leben
Akiyama is likely to come out of this situation looking pretty awful. Wanderlei Silva tried to push through a badly injured knee to stay in the fight with Akiyama and issued an apology to the fans when broken ribs forced him out of the fight. Then Chris Leben steps up to fight in a bout that was to take place two weeks after his last, very hard fight. Now Akiyama wants to back out because it isn’t a big enough name?
Get ready for the huge backlash Mr. Akiyama.
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