Cung Li vs. Frank Shamrock

[Lucas]

Personally I can't wait for this fight.

They hype is all worth it IMO. It's going to be a blast.

I hope they have a good fight, go a couple rounds, and then Le wins

edit: by a kick would be slick as hell

[NJM]

I'm worried that Cung might do his "I want to draw it out into 3 rounds/put on a show" thing, and get hit with a lucky one. But he will probably go for the kill on this one anyway.

[mkriii]

I'm worried that Cung might do his "I want to draw it out into 3 rounds/put on a show" thing, and get hit with a lucky one. But he will probably go for the kill on this one anyway.

Come on dude, Cung knows how capeable Frank is. I doubt he would "put on a show" against the likes of Frank Shamerock. Cung knows he would get killed.

[GeneChing]

Both must fight for action. Singles Only. Max $500
Frank Shamrock -210
Cung Le +170

I got my press pass. This was the hardest fight for me to get into so far. I can barely wait until Saturday. Anyone else besides me and elvis going to be in the house?

[monji112000]

Anyone else besides me and elvis going to be in the house?

I wish. Do you need an assistant?

[SAAMAG]

So It's This Saturday The 29th?

[GeneChing]

...but I could only secure one press pass. Like I said, this was a tight one to get in. Strikeforce is cooperating with EliteXC on this, and they handed the promotions over to BZA, a professional PR firm. What does all that mean? It means MMA is growing up in San Jose.

[GeneChing]

Odd time to fight with a pregnant wife...

Frank Shamrock takes on Cung Le in mixed martial arts showdown
10 hours ago

The Shamrock name still sells in mixed martial arts. So apparently does that of Cung Le.

Le, a martial arts star who switched to mixed martial arts two years ago, takes on MMA veteran Frank Shamrock on Saturday night (9 p.m. ET) at the HP Pavilion in San Jose for Shamrock's Strikeforce world middleweight title.

Gary Shaw, co-promoter of the Strikeforce-EliteXC show, expects the two local fighters to draw a crowd of 15,000 to 17,000 plus a gate in excess of US$1 million.

"This is truly for the king of the Bay Area and the king of San Jose," Shaw said on a conference call. "One of them is going to walk with his head high that night and through town the next week or two and the other won't feel quite as good."

Like Shaw, the 35-year-old Shamrock can talk a good fight. And thanks to a layoff and what some might call judicious choice of opponents in recent years, he can point to an unbeaten run that dates back to 1997 - save a disqualification loss to Renzo Gracie last February.

He fought once in 2000, 2003 and 2006 and twice in 2007, most recently last June when he submitted Phil Baroni - another fighter who has been round the MMA block a few times.

Le promises to be a good payday for Shamrock and the veteran has his eye on a few more, citing a possible rematch with Tito Ortiz and a fight against his adoptive older brother Ken Shamrock. "There's a lot of strength in brand values in some of these old-timers like myself."

Frank Shamrock was the UFC's first light-heavyweight champion. He won the title in December 1997 and defended it four times before retiring in November 1999 after beating Ortiz.

"I've got so many belts I don't have a place to put them. I just stack 'em up in my gym," Shamrock, whose website has a photo showing him holding some five championship belts, said loftily. "I realized a long time ago that belts don't mean anything. It's easier to become a champion than to stay a champion. For me it's just a way of life and if they give me a belt that's great, if they don't I could really care less.

"I've got to have something that challenges me," he added.

Le may do just that. A former star practitioner of the Chinese martial arts of Sanshou (think kickboxing with throws), he moved to MMA two years ago after an unbeaten kickboxing career and has run up a 5-0 record since. That record includes wins over "The Ultimate Fighter" alumni Sam Morgan and Jason Von Flue and veteran Tony (the Freak) Fryklund.

Born in Vietnam, he left the country when he was almost three.

"I was fortunate to have a grandfather who was chief of police and we were able to be airlifted out, under gunfire though but three days before the fall of Saigon," Le said in an interview. "A lot of people didn't have that luxury."

Now 35, Le is fast and unorthodox. His highlight reels are full of opponents distracted by a punch and then felled by a sweep of the legs. The elegant fighter moves like an upright breakdancer.

"It's a good matchup because Frank has the edge on me on the ground and I have the edge on standup," Le said. "And I think my movement will be the key factor to this whole fight because I'm going to be in and out and you can't hit what you can't see.

"One moment I'll be in his face, but I'm not just going to be in front of his face. I'm going to be feeding him some shinbone and four-ounce leather and I'm going to be in and out. I'm not going to stay in there for him to tie me up and look for my ankles."

Shamrock, however, said he will stand and punch with Le.

"My art has been tweaked many years ago to be a striking art," he said. "And for the past decade most of what I've studied has been striking and I think it's just time for me to try out my striking. It might be a little dangerous, but it's not like we're not in a dangerous sport. I have the utmost confidence in what I do. I think Cung Le is a great striker but I don't think he's prepared for an MMA striking match and that's just my strategic analysis of the match so I'm going for it."

Le doesn't buy it.

"I think it's a big smokescreen," he said. "Frank's a very intelligent fighter and of course he's going to put it out there that he's going to strike with me and, really, I think he's going to test the waters a little bit and then probably jump for half-guard or look for the ankle lock and start hunting for my knees." Adding to the spice surrounding the fight is the fact the two men have sparred before. Just how much is a topic for debate.

"We only did Sanshou and I sucked at Sanshou," said Shamrock. "That was a great many years ago and that was at the beginning of my understanding of striking. Now it's just a different level, different story. Time will tell. My actions in the ring will make everybody understand."

Countered Le: "He didn't just spar with me in Sanshou, we did kickboxing, we did Muay Thai, we did kickboxing with throws, everything what he would do in MMA except when it came to the ground."

Both men have also dabbled with acting. Shamrock's resume includes an appearance on "Walker, Texas Ranger. Le has appeared in the yet-to-be released films "Fighting" and "Tekken."

In typical Shamrock-speak, the champion predicted a short night Saturday.

"If Cung Le runs from me, I think that it might last a while, because it'll take me a little while to run him down. ... I don't think we'll go past two or three rounds," he said. "I'm going to push the pace really hard and try to finish it in two, because my wife's pregnant and I want to make sure I'm home with her just in case the baby pops out. I don't think it's going to be a long fight."

Le isn't fazed by such talk.

"I feel that he is very arrogant and ****y, ego-driven but that could be Achilles heels when it comes to fighting me."

NOTES - Other fights on the card include Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez versus Gabe Lemley and welterweight Jake Shields versus Drew Fickett.

[GeneChing]

Of course, anyone following the money knows who is on CBS. No wonder it was so hard to secure a press pass.

NBC Follows CBS Into Mixed-Martial-Arts Ring
Strikeforce to Produce Bouts to Air at 2 a.m.
By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/27/2008 2:39:00 PM

NBC is joining CBS in adding mixed martial arts to its programming lineup, although unlike CBS, which is broadcasting the events earlier on Saturday evening, NBC will air its fights at 2 a.m.
Strikeforce

NBC struck a deal with Strikeforce, an MMA-promotion company, to produce the fights.

"It's truly an honor to have the opportunity to bring the Strikeforce mixed-martial-arts product to one of the longest-standing and most well-respected national television platforms," Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said in a statement. "NBC has a history of popular late Saturday TV and, in the 1980s, NBC's Saturday Night's Main Event show helped to catapult the popularity of professional wrestling. Strikeforce is looking to follow in suit and establish a legacy of its own on the network."

NBC will broadcast its first MMA fight, Strikeforce on NBC, April 12 from 2 a.m.-2:30 a.m., following Poker After Dark, a show that it said shares an audience with MMA.

The network has beefed up its late-night programming over the past few years. While its competitors often air repeats or syndicated fare late at night, NBC broadcasts Last Call with Carson Daly from 1:35 a.m.-2:05 a.m. on weekdays, followed by Poker After Dark. On Saturdays, NBC broadcasts Saturday Night Live, followed by either Showtime at The Apollo or Poker After Dark, depending on the local station.

The Strikeforce deal will extend original programming until 2:30 a.m. -- far later than any of its competitors, but when the television audience has shrunk to a very small group of potential viewers.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Odd time to fight with a pregnant wife...

Frank cracks me up sometimes "I'm going to push the pace really hard and try to finish it in two, because my wife's pregnant and I want to make sure I'm home with her just in case the baby pops out."

LOL

[GeneChing]

See my post on the MMA and Drugs thread.

[Becca]

Frank cracks me up sometimes "I'm going to push the pace really hard and try to finish it in two, because my wife's pregnant and I want to make sure I'm home with her just in case the baby pops out."

LOL

OMG.... Like 5 minutes is going to make that big of a difference. If he's that worried, he should just duck out again. of cource, he may have said that to set up a plausable excuse for ducking out right at the last minute.....

[MasterKiller]

Cung Le looked good. I'm still curious to see him once he hits his back, but what a performance against Frank Shamrock!

[couch]

Cung had game. He definitely seemed to be taking the fight more seriously in the beginning compared to Frank.

Plus, his accuracy and ability to judge ranges was amazing.

Lastly, I loved to see that "classical" San Shou "catch-the-kick and dump." What a takedown!

I want to see his ground game, too.

Banging fight!

[NJM]

Crescent Kicks ftw.