Middleweight Chris Leben has indicated publicly via his MySpace page that he has signed a multi-fight extension with the UFC.

"I actually just re-signed with them," Leben answered in a MySpace response to a question about his contract status with the UFC. "They've been great with me, they gave me what I wanted so I resigned with them. This next fight is the first fight on my new contact, which is pretty nice, so I jump up to 25 and 25 rather than 10 and 10 where I was at. You know, it's still not what I think athletes at our level should be getting paid, but it's a nice boost for sure."

Under the terms of his new deal, MMAjunkie.com is reporting that Leben is guaranteed $25,000 per fight with a win bonus of $25,000. He had been publicly critical of the terms of his old contract, which reportedly paid him a $10,000 plus a $10,000 win bonus.

Leben went so far as to threaten to compete for the ICON Sport promotion in Hawaii at the conclusion of his old UFC contract if he did not receive a substantial increase in pay. The former Team Quest fighter has strong ties to the ICON promotion, as he's currently a full-time MMA instructor at ICON's training facility.

Leben is an alumnus from the ignural season of "The Ultimate Fighter" reality TV show, where he was eliminated from the show during the second round of competition in a highly-emotional contest vs. Josh Koscheck. Since being eliminated, he's compiled a respectable 7-3 lifetime record in the UFC.

During his 10-fight UFC career, Leben has recorded notable wins over Patrick Cote, Jorge Rivera, and Terry Martin. He has also suffered losses to Anderson Silva, Jason MacDonald, and Kalib Starnes. 

The first bout on his new contract is expected to take place at UFC 82 on March 1 in Columbus, Ohio against Alessio Sakara. 

--

Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com