Were you impressed with how well he did in mma? I’m mostly drawing a blank as to who he fought and how he did but remember it being a tad underwhelming
He was already too old iirc. He’d probably an all time great if he had started 10 years earlier
5 Likes
One of the early local stars of SF which helped the promotion gain hype in the mid 00s. They did a good job with the matchmaking and putting him in exciting, winnable fights where he could showcase his crowd-pleasing striking style.
Had a decent little UFC run too, all things considered. The guy was 39 and had no easy fights.
5 Likes
He was impressive and his run was very respectable especially considering his age.
I always thought he would translate well to MMA and was glad when he did.
3 Likes
He was a stud. By the time he got into MMA, he was already past his prime. Very fun fighter. He didn’t have a lot of competition in San Soo but he was a absolutely dominant and spectacular in that rule set.
2 Likes
Yeah he was very exciting to watch every time out and was relatively impressive overall given as stated already he started MMA late. I was fortunate enough to be at about half his MMA Fights and I went in as a skeptic thinking he was overrated and selective with his opponents coming in with his undefeated San Shou background.
But fight after fight he brought it every time and they were usually the most exciting fights on the Strikeforce Cards he was on. The Scott Smith fights were awesome along with the Frank Shamrock and Wanderlei fights. The Rich Franklin KO I wasn’t at but it was very clean and impressive.
My dream Strikeforce fight was Cung Le vs Nick Diaz and I honestly could see it going either way. Would have been an insane and somewhat split SJ Crowd.
To sum it up I started out as a bit of hater and by the end I was laughing joining in on all the “Cung Le! Cung Le! Cung Le!” Chants lol
5 Likes
Yeah, he was another homegrown San Jose guy, along with the unbelievable amount of talent at AKA, that really helped strikeforce gain traction.
You couldn’t drive anywhere at the time without passing world class gyms.
1 Like
He was beating guys like Shamrock, Cote, Franklin. Went 1-1 with Scott Smith, lost to Vanderlei and dropped one to Bisping at 42.
3 Likes
he was great til he got too old
1 Like
Was so fun to watch.
1 Like
He was awesome. Hated to see him lose to Wandy, and I think he got his nose broke or something like that. But such an exciting guy to watch.
They need a league for guys like him. The exciting guys. If all you do is take down/turtle up/shit like that, you belong in the UFC or whatever. But if you fight and do EXCITING shit like Cung Le, you deserve to be in a special league with other exciting guys like him. People pay more to watch the existing fighters, they make more money. GOLD.
Oh that fight was begging to be made. The crowd would definitely have been split. The valley mexican coming to the south bay to fight the Vietnamese star.
At the time, the crowds at strikforce shows were heavily packed with guys who trained in some aspect. It was a great time to be a fan.
2 Likes
Definitely, it was something special. Gilbert Melendez and Scott Coker have a new promotion in San Jose that has had a few events so far which have been fun but they are much more of a regional show than what Strikeforce became.
Cung Le’s son named Cung Le Jr lol fought in an Amateur Kickboxing match at the last one a couple months back. Here is a shot I took of him. Referee is UFC HW Vet Paul Buentello.
I didn’t know Cung had a son let alone a junior and that the he fought. I can be a harsh critic so I’m going to try to avoid comparing him to his dad and judging him but it was cool to see the next generation
3 Likes
Karate Combat and BKFC, though both promotions appear to have financial issues or in the case of the former, outright fraudulent activities.
1 Like
He came to the ufc at age 39? Ouch yeah that’s up there in age to start in the Super Bowl of mma
Wpuld have loved to have seen 27 year old Le in mma
Yeah he made his MMA debut a few months before his 34th birthday and his UFC debut six months before turning 40.
He looked younger than he was.
1 Like
I just watched that fight.. it’s tragic we saw it when both guys were both older and had miles of damage on them.. just imagine prime Cung and Wanderlei in Pride
Cung vs Anderson, Belfort, Izzy would have been fun
1 Like
His last hurrah and probably his best win.
1 Like
Supposedly Sage Northcutt has signed with karate combat.. good signing but who knows if he’ll get paid after his fight