MMA Fighting Share this story Truth be told, Chris Leben didn’t plan on fighting again. The 40-year-old veteran had already called it a career after engaging in a five-round battle with Dakota Cochrane in a bare-knuckle fight in 2019 and he was at peace with that decision. Then the coronavirus pandemic shut down most of the United States throughout 2020 and it put Leben’s plans to open a gym on hold and it gave an executive at Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships a window of opportunity. “The Dakota Cochrane fight, there was a lot of things in the build up to that fight that didn’t work out well for me. The weight cut and everything else,” Leben explained when speaking to MMA Fighting. “Nonetheless, the fight was a five-round war. Obviously, the judges had it going the other way but for me, I was actually happy that I went out on a bloodbath fight. I fought all five rounds. I was OK, that’s it, I’m done.