2 weeks notice: Chris Leben stuns Yoshihiro Akiyama with 3rd-round stoppage at UFC 116

Leben beats Akiyama on 2 weeks notice

LAS VEGAS — Chris Leben stopped Yoshihiro Akiyama with 40 seconds left in the final round Saturday night, earning a dramatic victory at UFC 116 in his second fight in two weeks.

After taking more punishment than he delivered in the first 2½ rounds, Leben got Akiyama in a triangle choke, forcing the touted Akiyama to tap out of his second UFC bout.

Welterweight Chris Lytle also beat Matt Brown, and veteran Stephan Bonnar stopped Krzysztof Soszynski with a second-round flurry on the undercard of heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar’s bout against interim champ Shane Carwin in the main event at the MGM Grand Garden.

Just two weeks after beating Aaron Simpson in another Las Vegas show, Leben returned to the octagon as an injury replacement for Wanderlei Silva. Despite one of the quickest turnarounds in recent MMA history, Leben survived Akiyama’s skill and landed superior strikes before the last-minute stoppage.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s on my feet, on the ground,” said Leben, who demanded to fight Silva next. “If I’m in the fight, I get the job done.”

Akiyama, a standout in judo in his native Japan, controlled much of the first round on the ground with his superb skill, but Leben had just enough defense to survive. The fighters stood up and exchanged strikes for much of the second round, both doing impressive damage and thrilling the crowd.

Akiyama nearly refused to fight Leben on such short notice, and he appeared exhausted from the first two rounds. He was on top when Leben secured the choke that ended the fight.

Lytle stopped Brown with an armbar in the second round of their welterweight bout. Lytle escaped a tough choke attempt in the first round and finally got Brown in trouble in the second to win his third straight fight.

Earlier, Bonnar salvaged his career with a dramatic second-round stoppage of Soszynski, who won the fighters’ first meeting last February. Bonnar took significant punishment and developed serious cuts in the first round, but he staggered Soszynski with a knee to the face and then landed several dozen left hands to the prone Soszynski’s ear before the fight was stopped.

Bonnar (15-7), known as the American Psycho for his slicked-back good looks, ended a three-match losing streak by stopping Soszynski, who beat Bonnar in Australia when the fight was stopped a cut from an inadvertent head butt.

“I like winning ugly, and boy, do I look ugly right now,” Bonnar said.