The Chris Leben DUI story that some MMA websites were quick to report yesterday was more of a “non-story”. Apparently, Leben turned himself in to clear up some component of his probation from an earlier DUI arrest. The exact details aren’t known, but the gist of it is that he hasn’t paid fines or taken classes or the like. It sounds like the general idea is that he wants to get these dealt with to make getting a travel visa easier so he can go fight in London.

I checked a few websites that had reported the Leben DUI last night and they’d all just quietly edited the story and hadn’t pretended like they jumped the gun before all the facts were known. I guess MMA now is definitely a “real sport” since this is a typical practice of the mainstream sports and news media.

UPDATE: Dave Meltzer at The Wrestling Observer, who’s not given to hysterical speculation reports that the above is pretty much correct and that the UFC was aware of these issues:

Chris Leben, who was scheduled to face Michael Bisping in one of the major matches at the UFC 85 PPV in London on 6/7, turned himself in Clackamas County, Oregon last night for a DUI that he had an outstanding warrant on, resulting in a violation of his parole. He remained in jail at press time and was to go before a judge at 3 p.m. today.

He is not eligible for bail due to the probation violation.

According to a web post by T. Jay Thompson of Honolulu, who Leben works for teaching at the Icon gym, Leben turned himself in on an outstanding warrant to assure he could get a Visa for England and will remain on the show. He expects Leben will serve eight to ten days which takes him out of serious fight training.

UFC sources confirmed today they expect the fight to go on as scheduled and had been aware of Leben’s issues for about a week.

Chris Leben story @ The Wrestling Observer