Cung Le still isn’t confident on the ground. Any well rounded MMA fighter would’ve taken advantage of an opponent on the ground. I want to see Cung Le work on his ground game and capitalize on opportunities on the ground. However, those sidekicks are NAAAASTY.

Lucky for Le, most of the middle fight fighters in EliteXc are not ground specialists (mostly).
Look at his possibly opponents down the line, they are all mostly strikers:

Phil baroni
Robbie Lawler
Ninja Rua (does have a good ground game)
Scott Smith
Who else could he possibly fight?

EliteXc doesnt have a lot of depth in any weight class. Cung le will have a good shot at holding on to that title for a while, especially if he improves his ground game (which I expect him to do) along the way.

Anyone else annoyed with the constant high fiving and camera mugging in that fight? Or with the way Shamrock took like 20 seconds to stand up with his back to his opponent after the catch-kick-trip? Save the buddy-buddy crap for afterwards, fellas.

To be honest, Cung Le is very ambitious. He will pound out a few more MW contenders in EliteXC before an inevitable jump to the UFC. The joke that is Phil Baroni isn’t even worth considering. The only competent fighters for him to try out are Ninja Rua and Robbie Lawler. Ninja would lose in Shamrock-like fashion I’m sure, whereas I’m fairly certain that Robbie Lawler would pound Cung Le out on his feet. Cung is good when you give him space (which the newly-cristened idiot that is Shamrock did for him), but as Shamrock showed at the end of the fight, Cung Le can’t really take a straight forward assault of KO-powered punches, which Robbie Lawler can do. It’s almost similar to what would happen if he fought Silva, sans the kicks and reach advantage.

I think if Cung Le is to continue his undefeated ways, he has to work on a few things:

a) A good guard, and maybe a few submissions. He’s very athletic and I’m sure he could learn how to armbar someone. He has some pretty thick arms, also, which would help him get a kimura on somebody, maybe even from guard. He just needs to utilize all of his physical tools to improve his ground game.

b) Adapt his San Shou throw ability to MMA. He should train with Karo, or Yoshida (though his ability may be lacking lately, he still has experience and is unquestionably skilled in Judo), or somebody else with similar ability and experience. This will help him not only avoid takedown attempts, but with a good sprawl and clinch work, he could turn his throws into an amazing defensive-to-offensive advantage.

c) Keep his hands up. It’s obvious he’s very cocky now, and as I said before, he’s weak down the middle, despite his ability to throw strong combinations to the body. He needs to learn to block the heavy jab/cross that a lot of future matchups will throw at him, and keep a thick buffer between himself and his opponent. Thus, he can full utilize his outside striking with kicks, etc.

d) Less head kicks, more leg kicks and body kicks. He throws too many combinations towards the head, and while that may be successful for many kickboxers, in MMA that tends to leave you not only vulnerable to the takedown, but also wears you out by the 3rd round (Cung Le has decent conditioning, sure, but throwing so many kicks that high up with the force he does burns a LOT of energy). If he work the lower body with his kicking combos and his punch combos, as well as the legs, that will wear his opponent down much more than him, and at the same time, keep their thoughts away from the head so that Le can pull some double-roundhouse combinations that will be less expected.

[quote comment=”394346″]Anyone else annoyed with the constant high fiving and camera mugging in that fight? Or with the way Shamrock took like 20 seconds to stand up with his back to his opponent after the catch-kick-trip? Save the buddy-buddy crap for afterwards, fellas.[/quote]
ya it was way annoying. its part of franks game but lee was having nothing of it. he wasnt getting frustrated or anything, he was just smiling and hi fiving back. i dont even know what the hell his game plan was in that fight

[quote comment=”394390″][quote comment=”394346″]Anyone else annoyed with the constant high fiving and camera mugging in that fight? Or with the way Shamrock took like 20 seconds to stand up with his back to his opponent after the catch-kick-trip? Save the buddy-buddy crap for afterwards, fellas.[/quote]
ya it was way annoying. its part of franks game but lee was having nothing of it. he wasnt getting frustrated or anything, he was just smiling and hi fiving back. i dont even know what the hell his game plan was in that fight[/quote]
He didn’t even know

Ricco Rodriguez should take over for Bill Goldberg. So much better of an interviewer. With the exception of his one brain fart, he is well informed and genuinely excited to be talking to the fighters. Goldberg sucks.

8th baby YEEEEAAAHHHHHH

ricco-i know u come froma a tradtional sport shoha, ugh, i can’t even remember, ugh, wat is it called again??
mmagenious-thats disrespect

ricco isn’t too bad in front of the camera on the interview tip.

I was thrilled to see the humble and respectful Cung Le beat Frank Shamrock. Shamrock may have been able to beat Le, if he would have tried to take him to the ground. In the end, Shamrock’s arrogance was his undoing, by attempting to beat Le at his own game of standing and striking.

I really like the guy and he kicks like a mule. I’d like to see him up against some of the UFC Middles with that crazy style of his.

[quote comment=”394379″]To be honest, Cung Le is very ambitious. He will pound out a few more MW contenders in EliteXC before an inevitable jump to the UFC. The joke that is Phil Baroni isn’t even worth considering. The only competent fighters for him to try out are Ninja Rua and Robbie Lawler. Ninja would lose in Shamrock-like fashion I’m sure, whereas I’m fairly certain that Robbie Lawler would pound Cung Le out on his feet. Cung is good when you give him space (which the newly-cristened idiot that is Shamrock did for him), but as Shamrock showed at the end of the fight, Cung Le can’t really take a straight forward assault of KO-powered punches, which Robbie Lawler can do. It’s almost similar to what would happen if he fought Silva, sans the kicks and reach advantage.

I think if Cung Le is to continue his undefeated ways, he has to work on a few things:

a) A good guard, and maybe a few submissions. He’s very athletic and I’m sure he could learn how to armbar someone. He has some pretty thick arms, also, which would help him get a kimura on somebody, maybe even from guard. He just needs to utilize all of his physical tools to improve his ground game.

b) Adapt his San Shou throw ability to MMA. He should train with Karo, or Yoshida (though his ability may be lacking lately, he still has experience and is unquestionably skilled in Judo), or somebody else with similar ability and experience. This will help him not only avoid takedown attempts, but with a good sprawl and clinch work, he could turn his throws into an amazing defensive-to-offensive advantage.

c) Keep his hands up. It’s obvious he’s very cocky now, and as I said before, he’s weak down the middle, despite his ability to throw strong combinations to the body. He needs to learn to block the heavy jab/cross that a lot of future matchups will throw at him, and keep a thick buffer between himself and his opponent. Thus, he can full utilize his outside striking with kicks, etc.

d) Less head kicks, more leg kicks and body kicks. He throws too many combinations towards the head, and while that may be successful for many kickboxers, in MMA that tends to leave you not only vulnerable to the takedown, but also wears you out by the 3rd round (Cung Le has decent conditioning, sure, but throwing so many kicks that high up with the force he does burns a LOT of energy). If he work the lower body with his kicking combos and his punch combos, as well as the legs, that will wear his opponent down much more than him, and at the same time, keep their thoughts away from the head so that Le can pull some double-roundhouse combinations that will be less expected.[/quote]

While you do have some good points, you are horribly wrong. I think Le knows that everyone wants to see his ground game, but he prefers stand up, just like san shou. He may have skills like minotauro on the ground, you never know, but he also has skills a lot of fighters don’t utilize during stand up.

Less kicks to the head? Tell him that when he is in k-1 because everyone will expect it. When you say he is vulnerable when he throws his kicks…who is he vulnerable against? Every kick he has thrown hasnt been countered (yet).

He knows what to work on, he knows what to keep and throw away.I just hope he doesn’t fall into traditional game plans, because his is one of a kind…And those plans win fights.

Congrates cung le on a great fight!!!!Hope to see more of your fights in the future.

[quote post=”5581″]its part of franks game but lee was having nothing of it. he wasnt getting frustrated or anything, he was just smiling and hi fiving back.[/quote]
Cung’s all class, for sure. But I don’t think he should’ve played Frank’s game - not attacking him when he was disrespecting Cung but standing up really slow with his back to Cung.

Shamrock’s standup is pretty decent but not good enough to stand toe to toe with a legitimate striker like Lee all 5 rounds. He needed to get that fight to the ground to win, which he didn’t. END OF STORY

Just saw the fight, and i’d have to say Le isnt quick all he’s cracked up to be. Shamrock did very well in there, I did not think he was getting beat as bad as teh judges were saying, and I hate Shamrock more then anybody so im not jsut saying that.

He hurt Le more then Le hurt him until that perfect angle that ended up breaking Frank’s arm, if you throw enough, like le, your pound to throw the perfect one eventually.

Like many have mentioned, Frank did not engage NEARLY enough, he stayed way to far to the outside, stayed in the perfect spot for Le. The thing that baffles me the most about why Frank didnt engage more often up front and aggresively is after the second round when Frank had taken everything Le threw at him and didnt really rock him once, Frank should have slowly opened up more and more, instead of staying a perfect distance, adn relativly non-moving target

I think Anderson would kill this guy so quick, it would be a huge disappiontment.

This had the potential to be a really good fight. I was psyched to see it hit the ground. It’s unfortunate that one fighter was scared to go there. I hope the rematch is more well rounded.

Frank is as Frank does. He’s a jerk and only wanted to prove a point…that he could bang with Le. I really don’t think he cared whether he won or not. Frank is good enough on the ground that he could have taken Le down and tapped him out, but he didn’t want to do that. He does these things for the “good of the sport” and the “good of the crowd” no matter what his W-L record may be.

Alan

[quote comment=”394319″]Lucky for Le, most of the middle fight fighters in EliteXc are not ground specialists (mostly).
Look at his possibly opponents down the line, they are all mostly strikers:

Phil baroni
Robbie Lawler
Ninja Rua (does have a good ground game)
Scott Smith
Who else could he possibly fight?

EliteXc doesnt have a lot of depth in any weight class. Cung le will have a good shot at holding on to that title for a while, especially if he improves his ground game (which I expect him to do) along the way.[/quote]

ey John - I guess you almost got your wish that Le would kick off FShamrock’s head. o man… all of those fights would be SICK!! especially a LE vs LAWLER.. r you kidding me?!?! STANDUP WAR!! Makes me wanna go to the gym and just learn headkicks. That part was hilarious when he said “You gotta block my kicks with 2 hands” and when he said he just kept going for that area of the wrists. thats CRUEL dude.. hahahah

i see shamrock winning the rematch by choke

wasnt impressed by the way shamrock was fighting was almost like watching wwe mma fighters should never be playing around like that

would love to see cung le tested against robbie lawler and in all honesty the fight has to happen at some point due to a lack of depth in the division

[quote comment=”395067″]Frank is as Frank does. He’s a jerk and only wanted to prove a point…that he could bang with Le. I really don’t think he cared whether he won or not. Frank is good enough on the ground that he could have taken Le down and tapped him out, but he didn’t want to do that. He does these things for the “good of the sport” and the “good of the crowd” no matter what his W-L record may be.

Alan[/quote]

That’s why I like Frank, he promotes the sport and the entertainment of it, he’s all about the fans and the show or the “spectacle” if you will.

Entertaining fight!

[quote comment=”394726″]Just saw the fight, and i’d have to say Le isnt quick all he’s cracked up to be. Shamrock did very well in there, I did not think he was getting beat as bad as teh judges were saying, and I hate Shamrock more then anybody so im not jsut saying that.

He hurt Le more then Le hurt him until that perfect angle that ended up breaking Frank’s arm, if you throw enough, like le, your pound to throw the perfect one eventually.

Like many have mentioned, Frank did not engage NEARLY enough, he stayed way to far to the outside, stayed in the perfect spot for Le. The thing that baffles me the most about why Frank didnt engage more often up front and aggresively is after the second round when Frank had taken everything Le threw at him and didnt really rock him once, Frank should have slowly opened up more and more, instead of staying a perfect distance, adn relativly non-moving target

I think Anderson would kill this guy so quick, it would be a huge disappiontment.[/quote]

Sounds like you saw a pixelated replay and not live. Trust me, Le did WAY MORE damage throughout the fight, Shamrock is tough as nails for sure, and yes Shamrock rocked Le with the straight right, one of the reasons Shamrock “stayed” in the perfect spot was Le’s use of front and side kicks like a jab in keeping Shammy from getting inside, attempting takedowns, etc…

Yes Anderson would probably win but right now this is shaping up to being a good fight in the near future, I would rahter see this than a boxing match with Silva and RJJ…

Maybe Lawler or Misaki will be next for Le, can’t wait…

concerning Sham and Le’s antics during the fight…

It was expected on my end knowing their history, sparring partners, etc. they have a ton of mutual respect for each other and that showed in their sportsmanship ans well as the antics (high fives, allowing each other to get up, etc)

I’m not a FS fan. He is brash and disrespectful to fighters. Baroni is a one-dimensional joke, but anyone approve of the way FS pushed and kicked him away after choking him unconscious? He did show some respect after this fight giving props to Le as “the better man” after breaking his cue stick. Still, Le didnt really beat FS as much as FS beat himself by standing the whole time. FS should have taken to the ground for an easy win. Le never stuffed any takedowns, FS never attempted any and Le turned down the only FS invitation to go to the ground. FS showed his worth standing early and should have showed Le and everyone else that he is a better, well-rounded fighter.

[quote comment=”395324″][quote comment=”394726″]Just saw the fight, and i’d have to say Le isnt quick all he’s cracked up to be. Shamrock did very well in there, I did not think he was getting beat as bad as teh judges were saying, and I hate Shamrock more then anybody so im not jsut saying that.

He hurt Le more then Le hurt him until that perfect angle that ended up breaking Frank’s arm, if you throw enough, like le, your pound to throw the perfect one eventually.

Like many have mentioned, Frank did not engage NEARLY enough, he stayed way to far to the outside, stayed in the perfect spot for Le. The thing that baffles me the most about why Frank didnt engage more often up front and aggresively is after the second round when Frank had taken everything Le threw at him and didnt really rock him once, Frank should have slowly opened up more and more, instead of staying a perfect distance, adn relativly non-moving target

I think Anderson would kill this guy so quick, it would be a huge disappiontment.[/quote]

Sounds like you saw a pixelated replay and not live. Trust me, Le did WAY MORE damage throughout the fight, Shamrock is tough as nails for sure, and yes Shamrock rocked Le with the straight right, one of the reasons Shamrock “stayed” in the perfect spot was Le’s use of front and side kicks like a jab in keeping Shammy from getting inside, attempting takedowns, etc…

Yes Anderson would probably win but right now this is shaping up to being a good fight in the near future, I would rahter see this than a boxing match with Silva and RJJ…[/quote]

thats for sure! by the end of the 3rd round, frank’s face was black and blue, his chest and abs were bright red, bordering on purple and you could tell his arm was messed up because it was also swollen and red. i’m sure you could miss a lot of that watching it online or on regular TV. i was watching it in HD, so all his injuries were quite clear on my screen.

a buddy of mine that came over and was hoping frank would win even commented on how beat up Frank was by the end of that third round. Le just punished him. Yeah frank rocked Le, but by the end of the third he had pretty much recovered from the punch, as was shown by him throwing some nice kicks at teh bell.

Does anyone care? Anyone with the last name of Shamrock should do the world a favor and off themselves…or at the very least leave MMA and stop taking away space that could be used for news about fighters that are relevant…for the love of GOD…no more Fedor or Shamrock posts

Frank best IS standing fight , he is very good on ground fight.
Le is one of the best standing fight out there, also he is the best takedown ,Le on ground?
what i saw Frank had a good game plan ,he try to take Cung on ground but did not work so he stay with his best {stand} ,Cung is better stand fighter .

GOOD FIGHT AND LOVE IT

cung is clearly the superior stand-up fighter. frank has come a long way since his pancrase days, though.
frank would’ve won if it went to the ground-but it didn’t.
also, cung has an INCREDIBLE chin. to all the people who doubt this, please refer to the end of the third round when frank just unleashed on cung with two HUGE elbows to cung’s jaw. it wasn’t enough to stop him and cung regrouped and won the fight.

Great fight from two true warriors.

this fight came down to an arm break in round 1… I thought frank would have finished cung le in round 4 and 5 if it wasn’t for that.