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.

Still, dope fight!

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.