UFC 138
| Company type | Mixed martial arts event |
|---|---|
| Industry | Sports entertainment |
| Founded | November 5, 2011 |
| Headquarters | Birmingham , United Kingdom |
| Products | Mixed martial arts competition |
UFC 138: Leben vs. Muñoz was a mixed martial arts competition organized by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on November 5, 2011, hosted at the LG Arena in Birmingham, United Kingdom. The event was broadcast on the same day on a tape delay basis via Spike TV in the United States and aired live on Sportsnet in Canada. This represented the UFC's second visit to Birmingham, following their previous event, UFC 89, held in 2008, which also featured Chris Leben as the headliner.
Background
Initially, it appeared that no UFC events would occur in the UK during 2011 after multiple scheduled shows in cities such as Glasgow, Liverpool, London, and a planned return to Ireland were canceled.
The headline fight at UFC 138 was historically significant as it became the UFC’s inaugural non-title bout contested over five rounds.
The fight lineup experienced several alterations: Mark Scanlon was originally matched against James Head, but was replaced by newcomer John Maguire. Subsequently, Head withdrew due to injury and was succeeded by Justin Edwards.
Pascal Krauss was prepared to face John Hathaway, but Krauss pulled out with a shoulder injury and Matt Brown stepped in. When Hathaway later withdrew because of injury, Brown was removed from the card as well; he later competed against Seth Baczynski at UFC 139.
Phil De Fries had been booked to fight Oli Thompson, who withdrew due to injury; De Fries instead fought against Rob Broughton.
On the main card, Anthony Njokuani was set to battle Paul Taylor, but Taylor suffered a whiplash injury shortly before the event. Due to limited time for finding a substitute, Njokuani’s fight was postponed, and a preliminary bout between Cyrille Diabate and Anthony Perosh was elevated to the main card.
The broadcast garnered an average viewership of approximately 1.8 million on Spike TV.
Following the event, Chris Leben tested positive for prohibited substances and was consequently suspended for one year.
Results
{{MMAevent bout |Welterweight |John Maguire |def. |Justin Edwards |Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) |3 |5:00 |}
{{MMAevent bout
|Welterweight
|Che Mills
|def.
|Chris Cope
|TKO (knees and punches)
|1
|0:40
|}
{{MMAevent bout
|Bantamweight
|Chris Cariaso
|def.
|Vaughan Lee
|Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28)
|}
Bonus awards
Monetary bonuses of $70,000 were awarded as follows:
- Fight of the Night: Brad Pickett vs. Renan Barão
- Knockout of the Night: Che Mills
- Submission of the Night: Terry Etim