Video: Cung Le vs. Frank Shamrock … GREAT fight
March 29th, 2008 . by DellIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to receive instant updates.
Tonights fight with Cung Le and Frank Shamrock was one of the most entertaining MMA displays I’ve seen this year. Both guys rep San Jose, California and were fighting in front of their home town fans, the crowd was going crazy the entire time (or gettin’ hyphy if you’re from this area).
There were 3 exciting rounds, but Shamrock failed to answer the bell to come out for the 4th. Cung Le broke Shamrock’s arm, which was most likely the result of accumulating kicks. The downright ARROGANCE of Frank Shamrock is what ultimately did him in. He refused to take Cung Le to the mat (where Frank has the advantage), and insisted on trying to knock Le out in the stand up.
Instead of knocking Cung out, he was systematically broken down until his body couldn’t take it anymore, all because he wanted to prove a point.
Heres Part 1
Part 2
[ Shout out to MMA Scraps for supplying the vid]
backup of part 1 in case the videos above die
backup of part 2
Ah men! Only till the 2nd round. Nevertheless, yeah, Frank’s arrogance thinking that he could take Le on stand-up ultimately led to his defeat. I mean, Le’s in a totally different leauge as far as stand-up fighters in the MMA world are concerned.
I totally respect Le, and am a Kung Fu practitioner myself, but it’d be interesting to see Cung fight a fighter who’d actually take advantage of Le’s inexperience fighting on his back (or is he?). Sure would be interesting to see how Cung would fare.
Me and all of my boys were screaming at the TV for Cung Le to aggress the situation a couple of times where he had Shamrock dazed. Once standing, and once after that massive leg sweep. Why didn’t he go in for the kill?
Still, dope fight!
what a gay fight. bunch of sissies prancing and dancing around the ring.
This fight delivered on the hype.I am an ardent FJS fan,but I’m also a lifelong martial artist who tries to be as perceptive and honest as I can.I really believe that I–and many others–underestimated Cung Le’s wrestling acumen.I think that FJS spent so much time sharpening his standup that he didn’t amplify his takedown skills sufficiently to actually take Cung to the ground.That says a pretty good thing or two about Cung’s wrestling.IMHO the weakest part of FJS’ game are his takedowns and takedown defense.His non-submission wrestling.Furthermore,I never agreed with the far too squared up unmodified Muay Thai stance that’s favored by the (largely unrefined) MMA strikers.This stance leaves you open to a wiiide variety of body punches and kicks that MMA strikers are largely unfamiliar with and MMA strikers currently provide inadequate defenses against.Every single body punch included the inverted punch (think that inverted punches don’t work? Watch recent Floyd Mayweather Jr. fights,especially his fight against Hatton,where Money May used his forearms,elbows and the inverted punch extensively).The sidekick.The low push kick.The sidekick-backkick combo.The crescent kick that Anderson threw at Rich Franklin,Hendo,Cote.Many,many others.Cung Le’s infamous side kick flashed out regularly and powerfully,and conected hard all night.Cung’s sidekick to FJS’ knee in the second round directly lead to his domination of the latter half of the round,including the sanshou sweep he landed on FJS.
The first round was hotly contested–therefore FJS got the nod cuz he was the champ.The SECOND round is the round that FJS initially got his arm broken after catching at an unusual angle one of Cung’s hard head kicks with his forearm.The second round also featured Cung Le narrowly missing with what MMA heads incorrectly identify as “the Brazilian kick”,as it first came to their attention via Francisco Filho–a karate practitioner of some renown–using it to devastating effect in the early part of his career.However,this kick has looong been known in the taekwodo,tang soo do,and sport karate circuits; including the lead leg version of this kick which narrowly missed cracking FJS along the carotid.
But on the inside,FJS was actually dominating Cung Le with knees and strikes,and all night long FJS was exploiting Cung Le’s suspect boxing skills.In the third round,this tactic began paying dividends.Had FJS not absorbed that odd angle kick which broke his arm both in the second AND third rounds,he would very likely have stunned Cung standing and finished Cung on the ground.Cung Le’s vaunted cardio began failing him in the 3rd.His sidekicks were neither as powerful nor as incessant as they were in the first two rounds.FJS’ boxing began connecting more frequently; Cung Le began to wilt under the pressure and he was being driven back.
Then Cung Le brought that fierce high kick to bear,FJS automatically blocked (incorrectly) again,and Cung cleanly cracked FJS’ arm.
FJS showed tremendous willpower and courage by finishing the round standing.FJS was clearly in pain and Cung Le–ressurrected from the threat of losing,because he WAS LOSING that round which would have given FJS a 2-1 advantage on the scorecards–swarmed,and finished the round with a flurry.FJS–his right arm dangling and immobilized by literally bone grinding pain–absorbed a beautiful full powered cro coppish left high kick to the grill without being knocked out.
Tremendous props to both men,most especially Cung Le.I thought that FJS would make short work of Cung,and I have never been impressed with Cung’s striking skill overall.However,I HAVE BEEN impressed with his kicking prowess prior to this fight,and now I respect his overall wrestling ability visavis keeping the fight standing up.
I would like to see FJS rematch Cung Le aaaannnd Renzo,but Renzo won’t fight FJS and this whole Shamrock v Shamrock crap is garbage for us hardcore MMA fans regarding fight quality but could be good visavis raising the sport’s profile and viability outside of the UFC.I see a rematch with Cung about 2 or 3 fights down the line.Probably 3 fights.