Leben-Starnes at UFC 71

Underground
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Leben-Starnes at UFC 71

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Starnes, submission.

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I for one had such high expections for Starnes, but he went the complete opposite direction.

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Hmm, me too, I'm living in hope probably..

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Starnes was a little too cool and cocky on the show, and IMO did show a lack of respect to his coach (whether Ken performed as a coach is another issue).

I think he's more about image than substance, with questionable pain tolerance and heart.

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umm, is that bet still on?

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I'm with pilot201, I had seriously high hopes for Starnes after TUF but he has yet to live up to what I thought his potential was. Hopefully in this fight he can show that he is a contender in the division, a KO loss to Leben would be devastating at this point.

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Easy KO for Leben

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I also thought Starnes was going to be the biggest success coming out of the MWs of TUF3. He did kind of crap out against Kendall on the show, but his only other loss is Okami (no shame in that) and I think he has a good chance of beating Leben.

Don't forget that he finished Jason MacDonald with strikes inside the first round of their fight, something Rich Franklin couldn't do.

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I think they should have Leben vs Terry Martin and Salaverry vs Starnes.

Better matchups imo.

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^^^Not bad. But I think those matches could easily end up boring as well.

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ttt

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I think this is a great match-up. Starnes is tough and has good all round skills. I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon with everyone else who thinks he pussed out in his fight with Kendall because he looked like he was in some serious pain. Now that everyone knows who Okami is, it's understandable why Starnes lost that fight. Okami is a top contender in the division and he proved it by picking apart the very tough Mike Swick. Leben reminds me of Rocky Balboa, a guy who has a good chin and just comes in throwing big lefts. He doesn't have the best stand-up skills, but for the most part they've done him well. Even fight imo, but I'll take Starnes by decision.

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This is an interesting matchup. Jason McDonald and Kalib are very similar in structure and fighting style, and we all saw what McDonald did to Leben. On the other hand, Leben has a good, hard punch and will certainly be looking to get inside and target those injured ribs of Starnes. I will be paying close attention to this one.