The mixed martial arts fight, a sellout of 9,515 at the National Indoor Arena in England's second-biggest city, served as a setup for Bisping starring as coach of the U.K. team for Season 9 of "The Ultimate Fighter," set to start taping in January. The U.S. coach will be either Dan Henderson or Rich Franklin.
The judges scored it 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 for Bisping.
"Take my time, stick and move, get a unanimous decision," Bisping said in describing his strategy.
"I knew he was going to come forward. I mean, he's a slugger. That's what he likes to do," he added. "The whole game plan was not to get engaged in a brawl, fight my fight."
A cheeky Leben entered first to the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen." Bisping, the poster boy for British MMA, chose "Song 2" by Blur and got a raucous welcome.
Leben came out pressing, flicking kicks as he stalked the English fighter. Bisping backpedalled, circled and countered, bloodying Leben's nose with some precise punches and using knees in the clinch where available.
In the second round, Bisping did more facial damage with his jab. Leben seemed game but limited and his striking defence was not up to the job. After Leben did connect himself, he waved at Bisping as if to say "Bring it on."
Bisping kept moving and counter-punching in the third, although a desperate Leben did take him down in the latter stages of the fight. By the end, Leben's bloodied, battered face showed the precision of the Bisping game plan.
Leben tried to get him out of the strategy, putting his hands down and inviting Bisping to hit him as the fight ended.
"I knew he had probably won those other rounds so I said I got to draw him in somehow," said Leben, who was gracious in defeat. "I was playing every card I had. ... It was Bisping's night tonight."
Jardine bounced back from a loss to Wanderlei Silva despite having his knee buckle from a Vera kick in the second round. He limped to the post-fight news conference.
Both fighters were staggered late in the first round which ended with Jardine, cut earlier on the top of his head from a Vera elbow from the ground, throwing but missing a kneeling Vera at the fence. Vera, looking worryingly lean and a little subdued in his second fight since coming down to heavyweight, used his movement to stay out of danger for most of the second and third. A little more activity and he might have won.
Instead, Vera suffered his third setback in his last four outings and was dumped on by UFC president Dana White at the post-fight news conference.
"It's like he lost something," White said.
Welterweights Paul Taylor and Chris "Lights Out" Lytle came out swinging and didn't stop in an entertaining slugfest that could have gone both ways. But it turned out to be a unanimous decision - 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 - for Lytle.
It was a pier six brawl between a former pro boxer (Lytle) and champion kickboxer (Taylor) and the sounds of punches and kicking landing were audible at cageside like a big butcher tenderizing meat. The action slowed down at times, only to rev up again for another Energizer Bunny display of aggression from both men. Lytle seemed rocked as the fight ended, however, and two of three judges gave Taylor the final round.
Taylor, the local favourite who lives some 12 kilometres away in Walsall, is 2-3 in the UFC and has won the fight of the night bonus for every one of those losses. He and Lytle, a 34-year-old Indianapolis firefighter when not in the cage, collected an extra US$40,000 apiece for the bonus.
"The kid's like Arturo Gatti," White said of Taylor.
American welterweight Marcus "The Irish Hand Grenade" Davis showed his experience and class in stopping England's Paul Kelly by guillotine choke at 2:16 of the second round. Davis has had as many fights in the UFC as Kelly has had in total and it showed as he handled Kelly with ease, bouncing back from a loss last time out to Mike Swick.
"I shouldn't have tapped, I should have went out like a man," said the 23-year-old Kelly, who apologized to the crowd.
Davis, 35, has fought his last five fights in the United Kingdom, winning four of them. Lytle, after his win, asked to fight Davis next time out.
Earlier, English lightweight Terry Etim won a unanimous decision over Canadian Sam "Hands of Stone" Stout, who has now lost four of his last five fights in the UFC. But White still had some love for Stout despite the defeat.
"Sam Stout looked great, though," said White. "Sam Stout came out and fought, fought hard. You always know what to expect from Sam Stout."
At, Etim had four inches in height and three inches in reach on the 24-year-old from London, Ont. He used both to good advantage in the first round, reddening Stout's face with crisp strikes. Stout was the aggressor in the second but grew frustrated when he couldn't penetrate Etim's defence, eating a few punches and kicks in the process. The 22-year-old Etim used low kicks to keep Stout at bay in the third.
English welterweight Dan Hardy used his eight-inch reach advantage to great effect in a split decision win over Japanese veteran Akihiro Gono. Two judges scored it 29-28 for Hardy, who put on a controlled, confident performance in his UFC debut, while the third gave it 29-28 to Gono.
Known for his grandiose entrances, Gono didn't disappoint as he came out in a wig and shades, pausing for a nifty dance routine with two backup dancers en route to the cage.
"Interesting," said White, asked to rate the pre-fight show. "He's a character."
Hardy, showcasing a red mohawk, then entered with a kerchief over his face to the sounds of "England Belongs to Me" by Cock Sparrer.
American Shane Carwin pounded out a first-round win over England's Neil Wain in a battle of unbeaten heavyweights. Wain, who did not cut a pretty figure at 5-10 and 254 pounds, came out throwing. The muscular Carwin, a six-foot-three, 264-pound former linebacker who once had a tryout with the Philadelphia Eagles, traded blows briefly then took the beefy Brit down, mounted him and threw more than a dozen punches until the referee stepped in at 1:31.
Brazilian light-heavyweight Luis Arthur Cane scored an impressive win over Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, felling the California - based Cameroon fighter with a left and then hammered away until the referee stopped the action at 4:15 of the second round. The ending earned Cane $40,000 for knockout of the night.
Cane pressed the pace early on but Sokoudjou, a slab of muscle with dreadlocks, was successful in counter-punching and kicking. All three judges gave Sokoudjou the first round but he seemed to run out of steam late in the second and stopped moving, quickly paying for it.
In other action, French fighters went 0-3.
Brazilian-based Swedish lightweight David Bielkheden wore down Jess Liaudin, carving open the Frenchman's face with a vicious elbow in the third round en route to a unanimous decision.
Swedish lightweight Per Eklund used his superior grappling skills to choke out Samy Schiavo at 1:47 of the third round.
American lightweight Jim Miller dominated 35-year-old David Baron before choking him out at 3:19 of the third in the UFC debut for both men. Miller received the $40,000 bonus for submission of the night.
The card drew a gate of a little more than US$1.2 million.
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