UFC 102 Preview: Chris Leben vs. Jake Rosholt

by Zak Woods on Aug 25, 2009 10:22 AM EDT in Previews Comment 8 comments

Leben-vs

Chris Leben (18-6, 8-4 UFC)vs. Jake Rosholt (5-1, 0-1 UFC)

The Story So Far: The UFC loves to have local fighters on their fight cards outside of the safe haven that is Las Vegas. Since UFC 102 is taking place in Portland having a Team Quest Fighter, in Chris Leben, on the card is a no-brainer.

Leben's ride through the UFC has always been a roller coaster. Not the dinky ones you ride with your five year old cousin to be nice, the one that jerks you around so fast it makes heavy kids cry.

Chris Leben's UFC career has survived a DUI, a horrendous one for three stretch, a positive steroid test and attempting to shotgun a 2-liter of soda. Leben's last fight was against Michael Bisping at UFC 89. The fight was a double blow to Leben as he lost to Bisping via unanimous decision and tested positive for Stanozolol. This will be Leben's first fight since his suspension.

Jake Rosholt is a former All-American Oklahoma State wrestler where he had an extremely successful career. Rosholt followed the path of many wrestlers and became an MMA fighter. Jake racked up a 5-0 record including a win in the now defunct WEC middleweight division. Rosholt then made the move over to the UFC where he lost to Dan Miller. Now Rosholt is hoping to get his first win in the UFC.

UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueira coverage

Conventional Wisdom: Rosholt's sixty-three second loss to Dan Miller raised a lot of questions about a fighter who should have the proper pedigree to succeed in the UFC. Coupled with Chris Leben's past success against lower tier competition and many are picking "The Crippler" to win this fight.

WKR Analysis: Leben is at his best when he and his opponent are brawling. But when his opponent refuses to stand in the meat grinder Leben one dimensionality rears its ugly head. With Jake Rosholt's wrestling background, and time at Xtreme Couture, he could be looking for a three round unanimous decision carried by some decent ground-n-pound. While Rosholt did stumble in his UFC debut against Dan Miller, Miller has a much better submission game then Leben. WKR has a sneaky suspicion that this fight could turn into a wrestling match, which will favor Rosholt.

Fun Fact: Chris Leben is a pretty decent skater

UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueira coverage

update with photo

Poll

Who Wins this Fight?

Jake Rosholt

24 votes

Chris Leben

50 votes

74 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

As a fellow Deadspin reader (didn’t enjoy the roller coaster kid as much) i assume you have seen Rosholt’s dog. Literally a good enough reason to root for him in all aspects of life. Why i chose to teach my dog sit, stay, shake, and lay down i will never know.

http://deadspin.com/5147314/jake-rosholt-is-heavily-armed-has-beer+fetching-dog

"That's an Awfully Big Mustache"-Frank Drebin

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by Zach Krantz on Aug 25, 2009 10:54 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

yeah, I think Cagepotato had that first. But seriously awesome!

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by Zak Woods on Aug 25, 2009 10:59 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

As far as Jake Rosholt goes, I’m throwing the Miller fight out. I think his fight with Nissen Osterneck is far more telling as to his progression as a mixed martial artist. Mainly, it showed his stand up is atrocious. Osterneck, primarily, a BJJ fighter, dominated on the feet, as Rosholt rushed in with his hands down and chin up. Fortunately for Rosholt, Osterneck didn’t have knock out power. But, he did do a ton of damage that left Rosholt looking like Rocky Dennis.

Bottom line, he won’t have that luxury against Leben. If he comes in the in the manner as the Osterneck fight, he’s going to sleep, quickly. Leben has knocked out better and done so violently.

Plus, while not black belt level, Leben’s underrated guard is good enough to neutralize Rosholt top game, especially if he encorporates rubber guard techniques, which he’s been known to do. I’ve always felt Leben showed good grounds defense, even in the loss to Kalib Starnes. The only time Leben has been dominated on the ground was by McDonald, and that was more because of submission prowess than pure wrestling. Rosholt’s wrestling is excellent but it’s nothing a really good guard can’t neutralize to the point of getting a stand-up.

If Leben uses a three point of dominate striking, good takedown defense, and an effective guard if taken down, the knock out will come eventually. For Rosholt, I don’t see him pounding Leben out. He’s going to need to lay and pray for victory, and I think Leben’s guard is too good to allow that.

Leben by knock out in round two.

by Steve W on Aug 25, 2009 11:06 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

i’m thinking jake learned from that…atleast he should have. he needs to turn into a typical lay and pray wrestler. he standup is beyond horrible and is going to get him really hurt one of these days if it doesn’t approve. his jits game is pretty awful too. once miller got him down you could tell it was just a matter of seconds before he was going to be tapping.

im going with jake by UD. I think he can grind this one out.

by sonofapsycho on Aug 25, 2009 11:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I have a feeling that will happen too, not ready to make my pick yet tho

watchkalibrun.com

by Zak Woods on Aug 25, 2009 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i think leben’s move out to hawaii and running a gym has hurt his fight preparation…running a training camp and preparing for a professional UFC fight is pretty much impossible….gotta do what you gotta do, but still. i hope leben takes this one despite his decisions in the past. he hopefully has the veteran/experience edge in this one. he’s an entertaining fighter and far more than a ‘fatherless bast*rd’ to me.

Gatti. Dekkers. Pele. Aoki. Kang. Vanderlei.
http://theworldsoldestsport.blogspot.com/

by theworldsoldestsport on Aug 25, 2009 12:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs