On December 20 2009 11:37 CorsairHero wrote: likely on sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/24267
Cung Le will make an entrance at the HP Pavillion Center in San Jose to face Scott Smith
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se5mrsTZvW0
Strikeforce is presenting a main card of four fights, with the showcase fight being pretty irrelevant but the other three fights showcasing up and coming talent, Josh Thomson, Gilbert Melendez, Jacare, and Muhammed Lawal are starting to come around in their careers and it will be a good night of fights on Saturday the 19th
Main Card:
Preliminaries:
Scott Lighty vs Antwain Britt Daisuke Nakamura vs Justin Wilcox Luis Mendoza vs Juan Nunez Alex Trevino vs Bobby Stack Alexander Crispim vs AJ Fonseca
Cung Le is someone who has combined a lot of different asian martial arts to create a unique style of fighting. It appeals to a lot of people, as it's almost as if Jackie Chan entered MMA. However, I do not think personally that he is that great - if he had stayed as the middleweight champion, I think Jake Shields would have run through him if they had met. Obviously if Dan Henderson were to fight Cung Le for the middleweight title, I think that would be 5 minutes of destruction for Dan Henderson over Cung Le. I feel as though, because of Cung Le's stature and his style, he is given easy matchups which showcase his skills, but over names that are recognizable. I.e., Tony Frykland and Frank Shamrock. I actually really would not be surprised if Scott Smith won this fight, as Scott Smith is a completely different deal from every other of Cung Le's opponents, he's in the prime of his career, is a newer age mixed martial artist with a more diverse skill set, and is training as hard as he can. But who knows, hopefully we get a good fight out of it anyway.
BUT JACARE. JACK, CURE, EH. That guy is ridiculously good at submissions, if you watch his fights, he seems EFFORTLESS on the ground, transitioning from position to position without giving up, but still keeping his weight on fighters on the bottom so they can't escape or roll or create any space for themselves. Ronalda Souza's ground game is amazing. I don't think Matt Lindland will have any chance whatsoever, unfortunately, as even though he's a great wrestler, I don't think he's going to avoid the submission attempts. Perhaps, however, Matt Lindland can keep the fight standing and box with Souza, but I don't know. Souza is a fighter who will have a long and bright future ahead of him ^_^
Another fight taking place is between Mike Whitehead and Muhammed Lowal. Let me show you Lawal's pedigree:
2008 U.S. Senior National Championships: 1st Place 2008 Golden Grand Prix International: 2nd Place 2007 U.S. Senior National Championships: 1st Place 2007 Golden Grand Prix International Open: 1st Place 2005 U.S. Senior National Championships: 1st Place 2005 U.S. World Team Trials: 1st Place 2005 World Wrestling Championships: 7th Place 2003 NCAA Division I National Championships: 3rd Place 2003 NCAA Division I Big 12 Champion 2002 NCAA Division II National Championships: 1st Place 2001 NCAA Division II National Championships: 2nd Place
In my opinion he's had two fights that have gone to decision which he shouldn't have had, but other than that he looks like an extremely strong prospect that could one day be fighting in the UFC.
Links:
Polls:
Poll: Le vs Smith (Vote): Cung Le (Vote): Scott Smith
Poll: Melendez vs Thomson (Vote): Gilbert Melendez (Vote): Josh Thomson
Poll: Souza vs Lindland (Vote): Ronaldo Jacare Souza (Vote): Matt Lindland
Videos:
Jacare vs Lindland in the ADCC championship tournament.[/url] (ADCC is a pure grappling only tournament held in Abu Dhabi)
Cung Le, as I recall, was successful in San Shou competition (allows takedowns, no groundwork - not sure about elbows and clinch strikes), and was also an all-American wrestler. He's essentially untested on the ground but has good standup and in one of his fights he pulled off a really nice harai goshi (sweeping hip throw).
It's just, if you watch that fight vs Frank Shamrock, and if you really consider what Frank Shamrock means in terms of today's competition and skill set, I was unimpressed with the way Cung Le handled him. The way Nick Diaz fought vs Frank Shamrock was a lot more of an indicator of what a good MMA artist in this day and age should do with Shamrock, which is completely dominate him from the opening bell until a good finish. I just feel that Cung Le gets recognized because of his unique style, which is not so unique because it's extremely similar to the kicking of a Taekwondo artist and as if you took all the fancy Muay Thai strikes but he's looked good because he hasn't faced very good MMA artists in this day, but rather people with big names i.e. Tony Frykland and Frank Shamrock.
Good post. Whitehead is a great test for Lawal. Despite Lawal being a huge favorite in odds I think every fighter should be brought up appropriately even if they show a lot of potential against Mark Kerr lol. So Whitehead is a good choice, I hope he demolishes him and gets a step up in competition after that again. Please don't have him fight Mousasi or Hendo within the next 3 fights. I wish I would have bet on Lawal when he was at -240 I would have been freerolling huge by now. While I was looking for people to discuss the bet with the line shifted in no time to -600/+400.
Jacare should dispose of Lindland unless he gets tagged by a bad looping punch. Jacares chin doesn't seem great although that's a statement that can't be seen as fact till we see a bit more of it. But Lindland despite being the great wrestler that he is and tons of MMA experience probably shouldn't be wanting to take this fight to the ground. Standup wise Jacare has shown plenty of potential to outstrike Lindland.
Cung Le vs Scott Smith is such a hard one. Technically Cung Le has a perfect matchup (again) being matched against an inferior striker with no takedowns. However a 2 year layoff and seeing your 37th birthday when you weren't such a great mixed martial artist to begin with does cast some doubt. It's always a tossup to see in which kind of shape someone comes after a layoff.
Don't have much of an opinion on Thomson Melendez as I have rarely watched Josh fight. My gut says Melendez is being undervalued here and should be the favorite but that's what I thought last time too when he lost.
On December 18 2009 01:16 ColdLava wrote: It's just, if you watch that fight vs Frank Shamrock, and if you really consider what Frank Shamrock means in terms of today's competition and skill set, I was unimpressed with the way Cung Le handled him. The way Nick Diaz fought vs Frank Shamrock was a lot more of an indicator of what a good MMA artist in this day and age should do with Shamrock, which is completely dominate him from the opening bell until a good finish. I just feel that Cung Le gets recognized because of his unique style, which is not so unique because it's extremely similar to the kicking of a Taekwondo artist and as if you took all the fancy Muay Thai strikes but he's looked good because he hasn't faced very good MMA artists in this day, but rather people with big names i.e. Tony Frykland and Frank Shamrock.
I agree with you - there is no evidence that he is a particularly good MMA competitor. I just enjoy flashiness. (This is not to say he's bad, or that he will never be very good - only that we just don't know)
I don't know that many serious MMA fans put a whole lot of stock in Cung Le's ability.
just on fedor, i read something about him fighting at strikeforce's enxt cbs event, i think in april 2010. someone can confirm or deny this no doubt, I am really just writing something that leaps to mind.
The problem with Cung Le is that he's not that dedicated to fighting. He's perfectly content to fight less than once year. Dana White has expressed interest in Cung Le joining UFC, but Cung Le is perfectly content with Strikeforce because UFC is too much time commitment.
On December 18 2009 21:47 jfazz wrote: just on fedor, i read something about him fighting at strikeforce's enxt cbs event, i think in april 2010. someone can confirm or deny this no doubt, I am really just writing something that leaps to mind.
On December 18 2009 21:47 jfazz wrote: just on fedor, i read something about him fighting at strikeforce's enxt cbs event, i think in april 2010. someone can confirm or deny this no doubt, I am really just writing something that leaps to mind.
His brother might be fighting Pudzianowski at that event. Fedor is probably on the card and Werdum/ Overeem are the two opponents mentioned.
On December 18 2009 11:19 Freyr wrote: I don't know that many serious MMA fans put a whole lot of stock in Cung Le's ability.
U'd be suprised.
I'm a huge Cung Le fan (because of his unique style) but Scott Smith is a fight from hell IMO for Le. Cung's not going to be able to finish Smith, and Smith has death in both his hands. I think Cung's style could win him a fight vs. 85% of the middleweights in the world, but veterans with solid striking by Smith won't be caught offguard by it. I ALMOST put a IRL bet on Smith at +300. But with Christmas right around the corner, decided against it.
I'm going to be PIP'ing this and WEC tonight for sure!
Thanks guys. I don't think Overeem or Werdum are much of a threat to Fedor, I mean seriously, Overeem got smashed standing up by Big Nog, and Werdum by Dos Santos...sigh
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