chief108
23rd June 2010, 13:40
SOURCE (http://strikeforce.com/news/2010/06/in-better-condition-cung-le-returns-for-revenge-against-scott-smith/)
By Joshua Molina
http://strikeforce.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/17_Cung_Le-234x300.jpg (http://strikeforce.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/17_Cung_Le.jpg)
If Cung Le (http://strikeforce.com/fighters/cungle/)could rewrite the script to his own real-life story, Dec. 19, 2009, would have a different, much happier ending.
He’d listen to his trainer Javier Mendez. With victory well in hand, he’d show patience, and not try to knock Smith (http://strikeforce.com/fighters/scottsmith/) out. He would pace himself so that he wouldn’t run out of gas with two minutes left in the fight.
Le, the San Shou kickboxing extraordinaire, cannot change the ending and go back in time to erase his first loss, a crushing third-round knockout at the hands of Smith. But he can do the next best thing.
Write the sequel.
Can Le, an emerging Hollywood actor who has starred in action-adventure movies, cast himself as a hungry, real-life warrior who returns from defeat and gains revenge from the only man in MMA to ever beat him?
The 38-year-old Le will fight Smith again at STRIKEFORCE (http://strikeforce.com/)and M-1 Global (http://www.m-1global.com/): Fedor vs. Werdum (http://strikeforce.com/events/fedorwerdum.html), this Saturday, June 26 (http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1C0044A69BCC3227?artistid=1092849&majorcatid=10004&minorcatid=830), in an explosive rematch at San Jose, California’s HP Pavilion, live on SHOWTIME®. (http://sports.sho.com/)
The popular Le, a San Jose, California resident, will get one more chance to beat the man who knocked the “King of San Jose” off his throne.
The Vietnamese-American promises the outcome this time will be different.
Le has watched the video of the first Smith fight about 20 times. No one knows better than him what went wrong.
“There’s going to be a lot more set-ups instead of throwing with reckless abandonment,” Le said. “I got a good game plan. It is all going to unravel that night.”
For about 12 minutes, Le had a good game plan for the first fight.
For nearly three rounds, Le (6-1) out-punched, out-kicked and outshined Smith, (17-6).
He dropped Smith seconds into the fight with a spinning back kick. He kicked and punched Smith seemingly at will. He took Smith down like a rag doll.
But toward the end of the second round, and clearly by the third, Le just got tired.
“I didn’t listen to my corner in the third round,” Le said. “My trainer Javier Mendez said ‘pick your shots, you are up two rounds. Don’t do anything stupid and engage much.’ Instead I went in there and tried to knock him out and I gassed out.”
With Le breathing heavily and his body slowing down, the hard-hitting Smith faked a right hand and then threw a left, sending Le down to one knee. A dazed Le bounced up, only to get clubbed with a barrage of punches. A right hook broke Le’s nose and sent him face-down crashing into the canvas.
A few more punches and the referee stopped the fight. Le, his corner, and his fans were stunned, and left wondering what happened.
Le, who has appeared in a few films and who is hoping to make it big in Hollywood, said his return to the cage after a 20-month layoff perhaps came a bit too quickly.
“It felt like everything was rushed,” said Le, who got married in the weeks prior to the fight. “I didn’t expect to get back in there so soon. One minute I was having soup with Scott Coker and then I am getting ready for a fight. I blink my eyes and I am in the cage with Scott Smith.”
He trained for about seven weeks, but two of those were spent recovering from his soreness after the lay off.
“When I was training on a regular basis my shin bones were harder,” he said.
His hands also hurt during the Smith fight.
“I thought I broke my hand,” Le said. “His head is really hard.”
Le said in this fight he will aim for Smith’s chin, rather than his head.
The fight with Smith taught him a few lessons, which he believes will help him triumph on Saturday. He said that he is in tremendous shape. He put everything on the side to focus exclusively on training for this fight.
“It was a learning process,” Le said. “I realized what I should have done. It’s all in the memory bank now.”
While Le knows what he will do differently, he also wonders how Smith will adjust his game.
“If I were his trainer I would have him bomb rush and put more pressure on me,” Le said. “The other scenario is that Scott Smith will try to let me kick and punch myself out and then he will go after me.”
Both scenarios could be dangerous.
If Smith gets hit while charging in, Le’s kicks will feel even stronger. If Smith tries to get Le into the third round, hoping Le tires again, Smith would likely have to survive a spree of kicks and punches for the first two rounds.
Win or lose Le’s future after Saturday is a bit of mystery. Le is a former STRIKEFORCE middleweight champion. He vacated his title last year because he had not defended it in 20 months, while he was making movies.
Le, who is expecting a child any day with his wife Suzanne, who is 9 months pregnant, said he knows he cannot compete in MMA forever.
“I have a great opportunity that I am able to do movies,” Le said. “A champion has got to defend his title.”
For Le, beating Smith and avenging his only MMA loss, would be the equivalent to winning championship gold. Can he put a happy, movie-style ending on his real life story?
“This fight means a lot to me,” Le told STRIKEFORCE.COM. “I feel like this is my title shot.”
By Joshua Molina
http://strikeforce.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/17_Cung_Le-234x300.jpg (http://strikeforce.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/17_Cung_Le.jpg)
If Cung Le (http://strikeforce.com/fighters/cungle/)could rewrite the script to his own real-life story, Dec. 19, 2009, would have a different, much happier ending.
He’d listen to his trainer Javier Mendez. With victory well in hand, he’d show patience, and not try to knock Smith (http://strikeforce.com/fighters/scottsmith/) out. He would pace himself so that he wouldn’t run out of gas with two minutes left in the fight.
Le, the San Shou kickboxing extraordinaire, cannot change the ending and go back in time to erase his first loss, a crushing third-round knockout at the hands of Smith. But he can do the next best thing.
Write the sequel.
Can Le, an emerging Hollywood actor who has starred in action-adventure movies, cast himself as a hungry, real-life warrior who returns from defeat and gains revenge from the only man in MMA to ever beat him?
The 38-year-old Le will fight Smith again at STRIKEFORCE (http://strikeforce.com/)and M-1 Global (http://www.m-1global.com/): Fedor vs. Werdum (http://strikeforce.com/events/fedorwerdum.html), this Saturday, June 26 (http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1C0044A69BCC3227?artistid=1092849&majorcatid=10004&minorcatid=830), in an explosive rematch at San Jose, California’s HP Pavilion, live on SHOWTIME®. (http://sports.sho.com/)
The popular Le, a San Jose, California resident, will get one more chance to beat the man who knocked the “King of San Jose” off his throne.
The Vietnamese-American promises the outcome this time will be different.
Le has watched the video of the first Smith fight about 20 times. No one knows better than him what went wrong.
“There’s going to be a lot more set-ups instead of throwing with reckless abandonment,” Le said. “I got a good game plan. It is all going to unravel that night.”
For about 12 minutes, Le had a good game plan for the first fight.
For nearly three rounds, Le (6-1) out-punched, out-kicked and outshined Smith, (17-6).
He dropped Smith seconds into the fight with a spinning back kick. He kicked and punched Smith seemingly at will. He took Smith down like a rag doll.
But toward the end of the second round, and clearly by the third, Le just got tired.
“I didn’t listen to my corner in the third round,” Le said. “My trainer Javier Mendez said ‘pick your shots, you are up two rounds. Don’t do anything stupid and engage much.’ Instead I went in there and tried to knock him out and I gassed out.”
With Le breathing heavily and his body slowing down, the hard-hitting Smith faked a right hand and then threw a left, sending Le down to one knee. A dazed Le bounced up, only to get clubbed with a barrage of punches. A right hook broke Le’s nose and sent him face-down crashing into the canvas.
A few more punches and the referee stopped the fight. Le, his corner, and his fans were stunned, and left wondering what happened.
Le, who has appeared in a few films and who is hoping to make it big in Hollywood, said his return to the cage after a 20-month layoff perhaps came a bit too quickly.
“It felt like everything was rushed,” said Le, who got married in the weeks prior to the fight. “I didn’t expect to get back in there so soon. One minute I was having soup with Scott Coker and then I am getting ready for a fight. I blink my eyes and I am in the cage with Scott Smith.”
He trained for about seven weeks, but two of those were spent recovering from his soreness after the lay off.
“When I was training on a regular basis my shin bones were harder,” he said.
His hands also hurt during the Smith fight.
“I thought I broke my hand,” Le said. “His head is really hard.”
Le said in this fight he will aim for Smith’s chin, rather than his head.
The fight with Smith taught him a few lessons, which he believes will help him triumph on Saturday. He said that he is in tremendous shape. He put everything on the side to focus exclusively on training for this fight.
“It was a learning process,” Le said. “I realized what I should have done. It’s all in the memory bank now.”
While Le knows what he will do differently, he also wonders how Smith will adjust his game.
“If I were his trainer I would have him bomb rush and put more pressure on me,” Le said. “The other scenario is that Scott Smith will try to let me kick and punch myself out and then he will go after me.”
Both scenarios could be dangerous.
If Smith gets hit while charging in, Le’s kicks will feel even stronger. If Smith tries to get Le into the third round, hoping Le tires again, Smith would likely have to survive a spree of kicks and punches for the first two rounds.
Win or lose Le’s future after Saturday is a bit of mystery. Le is a former STRIKEFORCE middleweight champion. He vacated his title last year because he had not defended it in 20 months, while he was making movies.
Le, who is expecting a child any day with his wife Suzanne, who is 9 months pregnant, said he knows he cannot compete in MMA forever.
“I have a great opportunity that I am able to do movies,” Le said. “A champion has got to defend his title.”
For Le, beating Smith and avenging his only MMA loss, would be the equivalent to winning championship gold. Can he put a happy, movie-style ending on his real life story?
“This fight means a lot to me,” Le told STRIKEFORCE.COM. “I feel like this is my title shot.”