Chris Leben Training In Hard Times

Chris Leben still found time to train during a short stint in the in County Jail, for a parol violation on 2004 DUI charge.

“As soon as I started to do anything, everyone was like ‘what are you doing?…..Training martial arts probably isn’t the best thing to do around a bunch of felons.”

“I told the guys it’s a blood choke, so you don’t have to squeeze hard……So I was just kind of choking him with one arm while he’s standing up. And I told him just tap when you start to feel like you’re going to pass out. Well, he didn’t tap, and at the time I’m going wow, this guy’s pretty tough, I’m surprised he hasn’t tapped yet. He just drops to the floor in the cell.

“Now I’m standing there with 20 prisoners around and they’re freaking out. This guy’s laying there, snoring like crazy. I’m like ‘it’s all right, it’s all right,’ then I realize they have cameras in here. I’ve just choked this guy out in jail – I could get in trouble for this. I kept telling them, ‘he’s fine, he’s fine,’ and it took this guy a minute to wake up. Finally he woke up and we had a laugh, and luckily I didn’t get in any trouble for it. That was beginning and the ending of my inmate coaching career.”

“I’m more or less someone who’s got a few issues,…..It made me realize I should have just taken care of it. You’ve got 150 students who want to know where you’re at; you’ve got a top-level fight you’re missing. You need to be taking care of yourself. It gave me a lot of time to evaluate my life.”

TG: CageToday Reader “Roy”