Once again, Strikeforce and EliteXC have put on an excellent event that provided good fights from start to finish. The fight card saw two title fights take place and one new champion crowned as Gilbert Melendez retained his Strikeforce lightweight title and Cung Le captured the Strikeforce middleweight title with a victory over Frank Shamrock.
- Cung Le came out and took his fight to Frank Shamrock. Before the fight, Shamrock insisted he would stand and trade standup with Le, and he lived up to his word, however unwise that strategy was. Despite all his showboating antics, Frank was able to stand firm with Le for the first two rounds, even though he clearly lost both on points. Late in round 3, Frank caught Le with a few strikes and looked as if he had Cung on the ropes and was going to somehow pull out another victory. But Frank was not able to answer the bell for the start of round 4 and Le earned the victory via TKO due a broken wrist Shamrock had received attempting to block Le’s head kicks.
- One thing that stood out to me from the main event that I still can’t understand is why Le didn’t attack Shamrock as he was getting up from the canvas after his two knockdowns. It’s obvious why Le wouldn’t want to fight a ground game with Frank, but when he is getting up to his feet and turns his back to you, I dont see why Le didnt attempt strikes. There are no “timeouts” in MMA, and I don’t know if Le was just reverting to his San Shou and Kickboxing days when a knockdown resulted in a standing start. The second knockdown saw Frank rise to his feet and circle around with his back to Le with for a good 5 seconds or more. I guess it’s a matter of honor and respect that Le allowed him to regain his composure and touch gloves before attacking again; if it was me I would have chased Frank down and attacked him why he took his sweet time.
- Gilbert Melendez looked back in top form as he absolutely destroyed Gabe Lemley’s face for two rounds. Not sure who is next for “El Nino” in Strikeforce, but I think he should look back to fighting in Japan to face some better competition.
- I’m not sure how many cans of beer it takes for Drew Fickett to enter into his “Knight Rider” persona, but it sure works for him. Fickett made quick work of Jae Suk Lim even though he was carrying quite a bit of extra weight. The Jake Shields vs Fickett fight should be entertaining, but I still think Shields will win easily.
- Don’t need to tell you all how happy I am that Wayne Cole made Mike Kyle look like a fool and amateur last night.
- I hope that Ryan Jensen knows what year it is after the brutal KO he suffered last night at the hands of Joey Villasenor. Jensen was getting knocked around quite a bit before he had a big right hand and hit the mat like a rag doll.
- You’d think that Bill Goldberg would get better as a commentator with each event that he works, but that simply is not the case. Goldberg is terrible and I hope for everyones sake that he will not be on the broadcast team for the CBS events.
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shamrock vs le fight last night was awesome probably one of the best fights of the year for sure,im already looking forward to the rematch.DRJ WHY SO MUCH HATE FOR MIKE KYLE?
So Doc, you have any more respect for Frank after this fight? hes obviously an idiot for standing up with Le, but it took alot of balls man.
In response to your question of why Le didnt attack frank while he was standing up, obviously it was the respect. They were having a conversation through the whole fight, saying nice shot, you got me, thats 2 now, touching gloves etc..
One mistake i noticed from Le is how he throws his sidekick to the body, it would be much more effective to the knee of the front leg. I personally LOVE the cross-step sidekick and i use it to setup the superman punch, thats my trademark move, but i only kick to the legs.
More respect for Frank?
Yes and No.
I have more respect for his standup game, but not for him as a person. Actually, I had more respect for his standup after the Baroni fight and he showed the same skill against Le.
That doesn’t make me dislike him any less though.
Ok Doc, thats what i was asking, in terms of being a fighter. Not him personally, hes definatley an arrogant ****, but choosing to stand with le for the benefit of the fans was a guts move.
He almost ensured himself an *** whooping, but actually held his own pretty well, mad respect form me.
i dont think it was a bad game plan for Frank to stand with Cung because i think he had a good shot at knocking him out. near the end of the fight when he rocked Le and started with the dirty boxing i thought he was gonna finish Le right there. i dont know if Frank is healthy enough or strong enough to beat Cung in any grappling situation, the way i see it Franks only chance of winning was to KO Cung or work for a sub off his back and getting on the ground and getting Cung to stay down there with him is a lot harder then trying to stand and bang. Frank has a good chin and Cung tested it a few times and at some point i though Frank was just going to suck it up and eat one just so he could get in side where IMO he had an advantage with the dirty boxing.
RJ i have to disagree, i definatley think Frank has a better chance on the ground, and i think he would have submitted Le, but its all speculation at this point anyways.
yeah like i said Frank could have done well off his back but you could see Le wanted no part of the ground with Frank and even if Shammy pulled guard i think Cung would have found a way to stall or just stand up and make it a kick boxing match again.
i think that you cant take anything away from either fighter. bvrasp wants to say he found mistakes in Le’s kick, and others want to say that frank was stupid. this fight was mostly in favor of Le but was still back and forth. either fighter had a chance to KO the other, and it never went to the ground. its stupid to criticize pros from your keyboard. my hats off to frank and cung. we can all make assumptions, but i remember when i made comments like the ones above me, it was when i said gonzaga was a fool to stand with cro cop, when i said frank was a fool to stand with baroni, and so on.
yeah i know i must sound like a douche bag when i say this fighter should have dont this or shouldnt have done that, but i do have an understanding of MMA and im not a total keyboard warrior i do train a bit (although it seems like im on the keyboard more then the mats now a days) im not trying to be a douche im just stating my opinion and thats what i would have told Frank if i was in his corner “eat one or two and get inside and beat him up with uppercuts and quick knees” but at this point and because im NOT in his corner this is all just talk and who knows if im right or wrong.
Mallot, im not taking anything away for either guy, but we ARE supposed to be talking about mma here. It wouldnt very interesting if we just always said, respect to both guys, great fight, the end.
That a taken, my respect goes out to anyone who steps into the cage.
When it comes to criticizing the tactics the fighters used, i think were allowed to have our opinions..
For frank, i said, he should have utilized his ground game which COMPLETELY outclasses Le. Am i wrong to think that? he made a bad decision for the good of the fans, his career is his perogative, but if it were me, i would have submitted Le.
As for Le, its just an observation on my part that from my experience, sidekicks are alot more effective when targeting the legs.. cause damage, compromise balance, etc.. Am i wrong to think that? lol
alot of us here train in one discipline or another, so were liable to discuss technical aspects of the fight, because we know what were talking about..
hey BV how did you like the side kick to backfist combo from Le. i though it was awesome man, bury your foot in his gut and kick off for momentum and spin out and put the backfist on his chin. he lands it like 4 times. its a good way to keep the other guy from reaching down to grab the kick if hes gotta keep his hands up to block the backfist. the one time he was even going to add the straight right after the combo, i love were the sport is going in a technical fashion.
ya it was very creative man, the guys an artist. My buddys old sensei, i dont remember what the style was called but he was indian. He had this flying backfist that was invisible to the eye man. This guys like mid forties but the way he closed the gap, it was almost like he teleported lol. It was strong too, enough to break your nose easily and a great stun for the flurry that came next, dam that guy was amazing.
i forgot to mention.. you see the first time Le did that move in the fight? Frank was moving in at the same time and he ended up way too close with his back to Frank. That could have been the end of the fight if Frankie grabbed him there man hehe, but ofcourse he wanted to stand so.. blah..
i got a bit worried when he did that, i cant remember if it was just after Frank grabbed him or later but when Frank pushed Cung down against the cage i was like “whoa did ya see that, damn!” Frank pretty well ragdolled him man. maybe your right in saying Frank should have tried for a take down and sub he might still be the champ.
My guess is that Frank’s strategy was dictated more by old injuries than by his need to please the crowd. I don’t think he’s capable of shooting well anymore with the knee problems. Standing with Cung was a mistake, and it became very apparent that it wasn’t going to work before the 2nd round. Any fighter capable of shooting would have done it in the second round. Frank did try to get to the ground a couple of times, but only when he could do so from a standing position, not once did he ever actually “shoot”. It’s very rare an ego like Franks to fight the other guys game just to put on a show. I’ve only seen it a handful of times period, Silva vs. Liddel being the most recent example. If Frank had an easier way to win that he was capable of doing….he would have done it.
thats very possible Mad, since he had no acl in his knee, but even so, there are alot of ways to get a takedown. I mean if we saw him attempt takedowns and fail, there would be no doubt.
Personally i think its just his ego, not only am i an amazing grappler, i can also outstrike anyone lol.
bvrasp said “Mallot, im not taking anything away for either guy, but we ARE supposed to be talking about mma here. It wouldnt very interesting if we just always said, respect to both guys, great fight, the end. ”
Well saying that a world class striker isnt kicking the right way isnt really talking MMA. You can talk about things without pretending you know better than a pro. take RJ for example
RJ said “how did you like the side kick to backfist combo from Le. i though it was awesome man, bury your foot in his gut and kick off for momentum and spin out and put the backfist on his chin.”
now thats MMA talk. you can speculate, give opinions, but stop pretending you know more about striking with kicks than Cung Le, i mean come on. Im not about to say Kobe Bryant needs to shoot the ball the right way, or that Payton Manning needs to learn how to throw. it just sounds stupid coming out of the mouths of people like us, who dont know.
Mallot your a crybaby, dont try and bulk me and you in the same category, just because you dont know anything about fighting doesnt mean i dont.
Your a clown man, you zero in on ONE critical comment i make, about ONE technique and start btching about it.
I never said im better than the pros, i never said i know more than them, etc.. Im sure Cung knows that a sidekick to the knee is a devastating blow, but did you ever think maybe he has a reason why he doesnt use it? maybe… respect for his opponent? maybe someone on the site would ACTUALLY want to discuss it, instead of a guy like you who trolls around looking to btch about peoples opinions.
“boo hoo, dont criticize Cung, hes a pro”
“boo hoo, dont say Frank should have used his ground game, hes a pro”
whining fckn maggot..
Why am i even bothering trying to explain it to you??
Go test it out smart guy, have your buddy sidekick you in the abs, then have him kick you in the knee, then come back and tell me which you think is worse. *******…
Momma always told me to never argue with fools cuz folks at a distance cant tell who is who.
BV was giving his OPINION based on SOMETHING. BV is not a dumb cat and if he doesnt know what hes talking about he would likely tell you his opinion is not based on personal knowledge. kicking a man with an injured knee in the leg IS going to hurt him a lot faster then kicking him in the ribs dont you think? and making that statement about a fighter, fighting in an MMA match IS talking about MMA isnt it? its ok to disagree with each other without the personal attacks so take it easy, we are all somewhat friendly here. BV said he thought Frank was dumb for trying to stand with Cung and i totally disagreed with it and said why without attacking anyone or getting into insulting peoples intelligence.
Thanks RJ, im sure you know my comments arent meant to disrespect any fighter, just to discuss fights, thats why were here.
But enough about that nonsense.. ITS FIGHT NIGHT BABY!!
3 hour UFN, then 1 hour TUF, dam, its gonna be 4 hours of straight free mma, its gonna be craaaazy..
Hell yea. I’ll be there live can’t wait! Denver going to go nuts
i know man i’ve been hyped all day, i went to work with my Father-in-law this morning just so i wasnt sitting at waiting for the show to start. i hate fight day right up until the fights come on the time seems to go by soooo slooowww when im weiting for the fights to come on.
hey how is cung le’s first name pronounced… is it chung…. or like sung??
it is pronounced Kung in N.America but most Asian folk would pronounce it kinda like Koong if that makes any sense. by the way i work with A LOT of Asian people who correct my pronunciation all the time lol.
hehe i had kind of a bloodsport flashback in the fight with Frank.. sounded like “chong li! chong li!” lol.
I always wondered if Bolo could really whoop some azzz, but he was actually a body building guy, weightlifting champ or something..
i have a Bolo Yeung DVD on the disc it has Bloodfight and Breathing Fire and the bonus features it has a bunch of interviews and stuff and in the one interview he says “im not half as tough as i portray in my movies” and goes on to say he spends more time learning to act tough then learning to be tough. by the way if you like Kung Fu movies keep an eye on the bargain bin at Wal-Mart they have good movies on all the time for $2.88 i bought the entire Wu Tang collection minus Wu Tang Magic Kick, for some reason i cant find that one.
yes bv then they call van damme… knock soo cow…. remember what that means?lol
naw patrick, that was Kickboxer, i was talking about bloodsport. If i remember correctly, that name meant white warrior.
hey does anyone know why henderson changed his name from hollywood to dangerous???
i think he change it BACK to dangerous because he doesnt like the hollywood nick name.
lol bv u nerd… ur right though
is anyone else tired of watching animals gone wild?? lol