This Saturday night Strikeforce will once again team up with EliteXC to put on an event on Showtime. San Jose’s HP Pavilion will once again play host to two native sons fighting for the Strikeforce Middleweight Title.
Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le - Frank Shamrock is one of those Tito Ortiz type fighters. You either love and revere the guy, or you absolutely despise him. I fall into the latter group and cannot stand Frank “Glamrock” and his super-inflated perception of himself. That being said, Shamrock has proven he still is a solid middleweight and can still fight.
Cung Le is one of MMA’s rising stars with an undefeated 5-0 record. Coming from a San-Shou background, Le has an impressive striking game possessing especially devistating kicks. Le will hold the advantage in speed and agility and that should play a big factor in this fight. Le will be able to strike and, more importantly, kick freely at Shamrock and keep him at a distance, unable to shoot for a takedown.
Le will have better stamina than Baroni and will also fight a smarter game. Le isn’t an aging, slow fighter like Renzo Gracie. Le doesn’t have the god-complex that Shamrock does or one-third the ego. I hope Cung Le kicks Frank Shamrock’s head right off his neck like something you would see in a Japanese anime movie. Winner: Cung Le
Gilbert Melendez vs. Gabe Lemley Gilbert Melendez is coming off the first loss of his career and will be looking to keep his Strikeforce Lightweight Title. After starting out with 13 straight victories, “El Nino” suffered his first defeat last New Years Eve at the first Yarennoka event when he lost via decision to Mitsuhiro Ishida. Melendez was originally scheduled to face Jorge Masvidal, but an injury forced Masvidal from the card and Gabe Lemley stepped in to replace him. Lemley has had a somewhat mixed career and shouldn’t pose much of a threat to Melendez. Lemley will look to secure a submission from the outset, but Gilbert is skilled enough to avoid any serious positions. - Winner: Gilbert Melendez
Drew Fickett vs. Jae Suk Lim - Up until last week, both of these fighters were preparing to face a different opponent. Fickett was scheduled to face Jake Shields for the EliteXC Welterweight Title and Jae Suk Lim was scheduled to face Nick Diaz. With Shields out due to a back injury and Diaz out due to a dependence on smoking the Happy Grass. Both fighters now find themself back in the cage with an opponent and we could be in for an interesting fight after all. Jae Suk Lim is a good submission fighter with an 8-2 record. Fickett is the much more experienced fighter at 32-5 and has faced and beaten the likes of Edwin Dewees, Dennis Hallman, Kenny Florian, Josh Neer, Josh Koscheck and Kurt Pellegrino. However, Fickett is known for his wild side and unpredictability. Both fighters will most likely look to grapple, but I think Fickett has the edge in striking which will ultimately lead to a decision victory. Winner: Drew Fickett
Mike Kyle vs. Wayne Cole - Yes, this is the same Mike Kyle that we all hoped would be banned from MMA for life after savagely attacking Brian Olsen after their fight was over at WEC 20 in 2006. Kyle was suspended indefinitely by the California State Athletic Commission. A local show in Ohio booked Kyle to fight in July of 2006, but serious backlash from MMA fans raised awareness of Kyle’s past actions, the EFS show pulled Kyle from the card.
Kyle was reinstated by the athletic commission and scheduled to fight in the Central Valley Cagefighting promotion last October, but that fight never happened. Kyle has a long history of “questionable” fight tactics. Kyle allegedly bit Wes Sims in a fight at UFC 47 (bite marks were visible on Sims’ chest after the fight ended). At UFC 49 he illegally kneed Justin Eilers several times below the belt and two of Kyle’s fights were ended early after he poked his opponent in the eye.
So I hope I’ve established the fact that this guy is scum and should never be allowed to fight in professional MMA again. Unfortunately, EliteXC signed him to replace and he should be able to defeat Wayne Cole without much trouble. Cole competed twice in the IFL in 2007, losing both fights but has since won two more fights. Winner: Mike Kyle
Joey Villasenor vs. Ryan Jensen - Winner: Joey Villasenor
Luke Stewart vs. Tiki Ghosn - Winner: Luke Stewart
Jesse Jones vs. Jesse Gillespie - Winner: Jesse Gillespie
Darren Uyenoyama vs. Anthony Figueroa - Winner: Anthony Figueroa
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im kinda hyped about this show. i have Shamrock picked to win but i hope im wrong. kinda sucks Diaz is out too.
I hope Frank gets KO’d by Cung Le. His super ego is annoying. The guy can fight but he thinks he’s superman or something. I’m kinda disappointed Diaz was scratched from the card also. Hopefully he gets things cleared up and is back in action soon.
> So I hope I’ve established the fact that this guy (Mike Kyle) is scum and should never be allowed to fight in professional MMA again.
Mike has been fighting for many years and entertaining people, why no love for him? Everybody should deserve a fresh start once in a while. He was already punished for what he’d done (>Kyle was reinstated by the athletic commission)and he’s freaking talented MMA fighter with the potential to be a champ. All his evil behaviors were part of professional MMA fights and he never attacks anybody in his private life like some pros do.
Questionable fight tactic”s”? His record shows that the only time he got DQ’d was the fight with Brian Olsen and everything else was overlooked by the referee, the judges, and the athletic commision. You should not blame him for something that was officially found innocent. What he did to Olsen was inexcusable, but we’re all humans, everybody makes mistakes sometimes. Why don’t he give him a break after laying him off for 2 years?
Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto, Kazuo Misaki, Enson Inoue, Takanori Gomi. Those 4 Japanese MMA fighters did exactly the same thing as MAK did. They kept pounding their opponent after the stoppage, pushed off the referee and continued to punish the guy. What did they receive for their cruelty? Nothing but hero-status.
Do you know how many times Frank Shamrock threw illigal blows in his career? Almost as many times as his fights (I have a full list of the details in case you ask me). How about BJ Penn, Ricardo Almeida, Chris Brennan, Manny Gambryan, and 1000 others who like to hold the submission after scoring a tapout? They all look criminals to my eyes.
rainrider (long time ROM, first time posting here, howdy)
just because he was only DQ’d the one time and did have 2 other fights stopped for eye pokes. Also, how to you excuse BITING Wes Sims on the chest???
You can’t. There is no possible way he could by someone “by accident” during the fight. Its a premeditated action.
Had the incident with Brian Olsen been the first time Kyle had been in the new for this sort of thing, then I’d possibly say sure, give him another shot. But it wasnt the first time. he has a history of this sort of junk
I agree with Dr J on this.
Its one thing if you disgrace yourself, like Gomi and all the guys Rainrider mentioned (and alot more he didnt, like BJ and Babalu recently. But after the fact when it all comes out and you make your apology etc, as they always do, your supposed to rise above that.
Guys like Pyle, or dirty bob shreiber who will do anything they can get away with without costing them the fight. Every fighter does it, but its TO AN EXTENT, like holding the cage to avoid a take down. “dont hold the fence!” “duh, oh ya i forgot..” but that small infraction prevented a takedown and it could change the outcome of the entire fight. Now when you get to the extent of eye poking you could jeopardise the other fighters career and his vision for life! when he bit wes sims that was just ridiculous man.. pathetic.
If you have to use tactics like that, your a coward, your a btch and you have no place in mma. str8 goods man.
Yes! Cung Le is amazing to watch. Unbelievable.
Gotta say I am not surprised, if Frank wasn’t getting the better of Le he wasn’t gonna lose by knockout, submission, or unanimous decision.. he could have been injured for sure, these types of injuries are common when you take steroids for a long period of time.. hehe just stirring it up!
dr j
no need to answere why u hate mike kyle i just read it
As for Frank vs Cung Le, great fight, hope people have a bit more respect for Frank after this fight..
Ofcourse he was stupid for standing with Le, and im sure he could have submitted him, but that wouldnt have been near as entertaining for the fans.
One word, Balls!