It wasn't the most thrilling fight of the night, but Derek Brunson bested Chris Leben at UFC 155 this past weekend (Dec. 29, 2012) in what marked the first fight for "The Crippler" in more than one year after he was suspended following his loss to Mark Munoz at UFC 138 for failing his post-fight drug test.

The listless performance drew the ire of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) front man Dana White, who wasn't too pleased by the output of both fighters, admitting he made a mistake by putting the middleweight showdown on the main card of the year-end pay-per-view (PPV) event.

Earlier today, Leben took to his Twitter account to defend his showing and declared "ring rust" was what impeded his performance, as well as pointed the finger at Brunson, saying going up against a "boring" fighter like Brunson didn't help the sad situation.

Leben also revealed that when Brunson was able to find his range with his strikes, it was only because he let him get some free licks just to get him to do something ... anything.

His words:

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Chris Leben
@cripplerufc

I just had a little ring rust. But that being said derek brunson is a boring fighter the times he hit me, i let him just to get him to swing

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6 hours ago via Twitter for Android · powered by @socialditto

To keep it fair, Brunson did agree to take the bout against the hard-hitting Leben on short notice after his original opponent, Karlos Vemola, came down with an injury that forced him of the card.

So, perhaps Brunson has a few excuses reasons his performance wasn't up to snuff, too.

Nevertheless, it was the Strikeforce import, Brunson, who took a trip to the winner's circle, ending his two fight skid in the process, while Leben was forced to go back to the drawing board after suffering his second consecutive loss inside the Octagon.