Cung Le

[White Shogun]

Not sure if anyone is interested in this fight, but there was a great match on Showtime's Elite XC tonight, between EXC middleweight champ Frank Shamrock and Cung Le.

It was a great fight, a scheduled five rounder that only lasted three rounds. The first was pretty much a toss up, but rounds two and three saw Cung Le pick Shamrock a part, piece by piece. He stuffed a couple of Frank's takedown attempts, and blasted Frank with side kicks, head kicks, low kicks, punches, to the body and the head, til the end of the third. The fight was over when Frank quit in his corner, lying on the canvas.

Frank only had Le in danger once in the fight. Near the end of the third, Frank stunned Le with a hard right. But Le shook it off and came back strong, doing some damage of his own that might have sealed the outcome.

Le used a number of unorthodox techniques in this fight, including spinning back kicks, sliding side kicks, spinning back fists, and a couple of San Shou throws or sweeps thrown in for good measure.

There was a lot of showboating in this fight, on the part of both men, but once Le got started and began working Frank over, that came to an end.

If you can catch a replay somewhere, I recommend it.

 

[Ex-PhillyGuy]

I've enjoyed the tapes of Cung Le's fights that I've seen. His style, San Shou, is one of those "exotics" that seems to translate into MMA very well. A little bit of a change from your usual kickboxing/bjj/wrestling.

Even better, Frank Shamrock's big mouth and even bigger ego took a hit. This man really believed, and had many internet minions agreeing, that he was the true middleweight king. While his mouth may be p4p king, his body can't hold up anymore.

 

[jared]

Cung Le's unorthodox striking is definitely worth the price of admission. I watched the fight with Shamrock, it was a good one. Try http://www.mmalinker.com/ for a link to the fight.

 

[White Shogun]

Edited by: White Shogun

 

[dkr77]

Le definitely put it on Shamrock last night in impressive fashion. I was surprised that Shamrock didn't switch to southpaw so as to try and negate Le's left leg kick that hurt him so badly. I'll bet Shamrock will be training nothing but takedown's if he gets a rematch

 

[DixieDestroyer]

Cung Le has some solid talent & potential. If he wins another big fight or two in this dominating fashion, I can see the UFC trying to lure him away to fight Silva (provided Silva remains the champ). I think Le vs. Silva would be an interesting match-up (standing up). If it went to the ground, I think Silva's BJJ would finish Le pretty quick.

P.S. - If Travis Lutter can beat Franklin decisively, look for him to possibly get another shot at Silva. He's given Silva more trouble than did Franklin, Leben & Marquardt. Lutter had full mount on Silva. Also, Silva used illegal downward elbows to the head to expedite his finish of Lutter from the guard. I give Lutter's BJJ the edge.Edited by: DixieDestroyer

 

[dkr77]

DD, I'm with you on Lutter vs Silva. Their first fight Lutter looked physically drained and still dominated Silva in the first round. I think Lutter, with a proper weight cut, will give A. Silva all kinds of trouble.

 

[White Shogun]

I agree with you guys, I think an in-shape Lutter would give Silva his best fight so far. Funny though, I expect Lutter to have trouble with Franklin...

By the way, as I understand it, a downward elbow strike refers to up-down, not the point of the elbow. Silva was striking Lutter with the point of his elbow on top of Lutter's head, but they were horizontal strikes, not vertical.

 

[DixieDestroyer]

I agree with you guys, I think an in-shape Lutter would give Silva his best fight so far. Funny though, I expect Lutter to have trouble with Franklin...

By the way, as I understand it, a downward elbow strike refers to up-down, not the point of the elbow. Silva was striking Lutter with the point of his elbow on top of Lutter's head, but they were horizontal strikes, not vertical.

Correct you are WS. Lutter will need to take Franklin down ASAP. Lutter will want to avoid standing with both Ace & Silva. I think he schools Franklin on the mat & has an edge over Silva in BJJ as well.

I think any/all elbows & knees (even to a grounded opponent) should be legal. I watched UFC 1 on Sunday night and enjoyed seeing the old headbutts, kicks to downed opponents & such. The old NHB was much more "transferable" to a street fight then are the current MMA rules.

 

[white is right]

My impression of the fight was Shamrock's arrogance cost him the fight. He wanted to beat Cung at his game and it cost him the broken arm and a battered body. The one time he tried to box Cung in close he had the smaller man wobbly and ready to go. The loss couldn't happen to a nicer guy....