Will Cung Le finally get some respect? His upcoming bout with aging MMA star Frank Shamrock should give the young and undefeated San Shou fighter some credibility - if he can hold his own.
The adopted Shamrock, Frank, has certainly defeated some of the biggest names in MMA - in the 1990’s. These names include Jeremy Horn, Tito Ortiz, and Masakatsu Funaki. However, Shamrock hasn’t fought much as of late. After his disqualification loss to Renzo Gracie back in February of 2007, the submission fighter returned to face Phil Baroni. Shamrock defeated Baroni via rear naked choke in the second round. Incidentally, Cung Le was on the same fight card with a victory of Tony Fryklund and began immediately talking about his next fight - with Shamrock. But is this really a balanced fight? Le and Shamrock are nearly the same age, but while Le has only five MMA fights, Shamrock has over 30.
Before we talk about the consequences, let’s take to decipher Cung Le’s five knockout wins. First, Le fought Mike Altman back in March of 2006 (on the same card as Shamrock as well). Not much can be said about Altman. He’s 1-4. Next! Brian Warren was Le’s next victim and was on a roll with a five fight win streak. Le snapped that streak in June of 2006 and sent Warren off to lose four more in a row. Cursed. Jason Von Flue, up against Le in December of 2006 was beaten in a mere 43 seconds due to a cut stoppage. Von Flue is a 12-9 fighter, but he doesn’t have much history. Fun fact - he is part of recent TUF Winner Mac Danzig’s only draw back in 2004. Finally there’s Sam Morgan. Strikeforce decided to throw a tournament series a few months back just before Thanksgiving. Defeating Morgan in a way that only Bas Rutten could appreciate, Le ended the fight with a KO due to a liver kick. Morgan is the most credible of Le’s opponents with a 19-9 record with credible losses (not wins) at the hands of UFC fighters Forrest Petz, Manny Gamburyan, and Josh Burkman.
So, is Cung Le ready for Shamrock? I don’t know how I feel about this one. Even if he is ready, does anyone really win when we have a 5-0 fighter up against a MMA veteran who rarely fights? If Le does pull off the win, will everyone just brush it off as the new guy beating up on the “old man”? What if Shamrock pulls off the victory? Will he lose respect for accepting a challenge against someone who hasn’t fought tough competition?
I give both men credit for this fight and hope for a long and exciting fight that leaves both the casual fan and the enthusiast looking for more. Both men demand proper respect, but is that what they will get on March 29th?
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January 25th, 2008 at 12:28pm
Firstly, there are a few small factual errors, not the least of which is that both Shamrock’s are adopted. Ken changed his name in tribute to Bob Shamrock (as did Frank, though Frank did his name change later), owner of Shamrock Ranch, a facility for troubled youths. There are a few others, but I won’t get nit-picky.
There’s also something major that you forget to mention in this article, and it is a little bit strange to me.
You are talking about Cung Le like he’s a rookie fighter, when that’s simply not the case. He may only have five pro fights as an MMA fighter, but the fact is, he’s a world San Shou champion and has been touted as one of the greatest kickboxer ever in his weigh class.
Le is 3-0 in K-1 Kickboxing matches, but that, like his MMA record, doesn’t do justice to his skill.
If you only look at the fighter in terms of his MMA record, you will lose sight of who the fighter is. Le is a guy who has decimated all of his last opponents, and while Frank Shamrock is, truly, the legend of the weightclass, you can’t call Le an up-and-comer by any means. While he may lack the mainstream credibility that Shamrock developed in his 5 UFC title fight wins, but the fact is, Le is not a newcomer to full contact and, if anything, has more credible standup than Shamrock.
This will be a classic stiker vs. grappler matchup, but Le has pretty incredible wrestling saavy, as he learned alot of very applicable takedowns in San Shou. It will be an interesting matchup, but I don’t see Shamrock being near as overwhelming as people think he is. Frank is a great fighter, but to say that he has a wealth of experience that Le lacks is crazy and, frankly, untrue.
Oh, and if you really believe that Sammy Morgan is more credible than Jason Von Flue, I should mention that Morgan has never performed on the big stage and all of the guys that you mentioned (Petz, Burkman and Gamburyan) dominated him. Not only that, but they are not top tier fighters and both Burkman and Gamburyan (the ones that are reputable) fight in lower weightclasses now).
Von Flue, on the other hand, actually has a win on the big stage, and it was moderately impressive, coming with a submission that he claims to have created himself. (that’s another debate for another time) At least Von Flue beat one of his reputable opponents, while Morgan has been unimpressive in every attempt to prove himself.
Don’t underestimate Cung Le, he’s a very good, very experienced fighter, and it might be important to note that he still has not had a fight go to the judges.