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MMAyou.com sat down with Strikeforce champion Cung Le. Check out what Le has to say regar ding UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, his big win over Frank Shamrock, his upcoming movies, and much more.
MMAyou.com: First, how are you doing?
Le: Doing good.
MMAyou.com: You're coming off a huge win over Frank Shamrock in what was an amazing fight. Please give us your thoughts on the fight.
Le: I found out a lot about myself. In the third round Frank caught me with a big right hand. I think a lot of people would've crumbled, instead it got me more fired up and I started kicking harder.
MMAyou.com: He said in the pre-fight interviews that he was going to stand with you. Do you think he stood with you because he really believed in his striking or because he couldn't take you down or a combination of both?
Le: Okay, I gotta say that has to be both. One, he's a mastermind at getting in people's heads. He's very savvy in how he's gonna mess with a fighter's head. I think he probably thought that, I'm just gonna get in Cung's head, making him think I'm gonna stand with him and if the opportunity is there he's gonna go for the takedown, go for the submission.
When he got in there I gave him two GOLDEN opportunities when I was trying to get flashy and do the spin kicks too early in the round. The first one he took my back, I defended it by reaching back and pulling him forward and whizzering him off me. The second time I did a wheel kick and he bumped me off and then straight armed me on the fence and tried to guillotine choke me right there. I defended that too so he had two opportunities.
Two other times he tried to shoot in and I stuffed his shots. Even though people though people say Frank should have shot in on my legs, Frank is good at what he does. Shoot and grab the body, bear hugs or whatever he does, and he couldn't get anything off me. He had to stand. He had to be patient and look for the opening and I just never gave him that opportunity because I didn't do anymore spin kicks. When I came back after the first round my trainer Javier Mendez says "Do not do anymore spin kicks!". So I didn't do anymore spin kicks.
MMAyou.com: Good advice. Speaking of your submission game. How is that coming along? We've never gotten the chance to see it.
Le: You got to see me defend against submissions right? Frank Shamrock, he's the wizard on the ground. He had his opportunities and he couldn't do it.
MMAyou.com: That says enough right?
Le: That's enough right? A lot of people say "Well we haven't seen Cung on the ground" but why do you want to see Cung on the ground when you can see Jake Shields on the ground. Why don't you go tell Chuck to throw a triangle on someone?
I know all the movements but why am I doing to do that when I'm good at my strikes.
MMAyou.com: Do you know who you're fighting next?
Le: I don't. I talked to my promoter. My promoter said he's gotta promote this fight with Josh Thompson and Gilbert Melendez. I told him after this fight I need to take some time off. A lot of people don't know this. Excuse my Vietnamese but since Frank's bitching about you know, I broke his arm in the first or second round and he fought through it all the way to the third round, which is a lie and false because I know when I broke his arm which is the second to last kick.
I had surgery in November after the fight against Sam Morgan. Actually the doctor told me it's gonna take about six months to recover after the surgery. Before the surgery he says "Oh you'll be back in four weeks" but he had to move my oner nerve out of the way. Instead of a half an hour procedure, it took an hour and a half. I didn't think the fight with Frank and I would happen even though Frank came in the ring after the Sam Morgan fight and brought up a bunch of stuff like "Oh I accept your challenge" and all this stuff. I didn't think it was gonna happen because he said he wants to fight Renzo first.
I went ahead and got the operation and I found out that Renzo was not gonna fight him and he said well he'll fight me. I said, "I'm not gonna let this opportunity go by" so I took advantage of it, did some crazy rehab, and just stayed off the right hand. Got my cardio up and fought Frank anyways.
MMAyou.com: Are you going to be starring in the 2009 Tekken film?
Le: Yes I am Martial Law in Tekken. Tekken will be my second movie. The next m ovie that will be released is called Fighting. The cast of that is Terrance Howard who is an academy award nominee and Channing Tatum.
It's a real good story. It's like a Rocky underdog guy, Channing Tatum, who is now Duke in GI Joe. Just put it this way. We both had concussions and he went to the hospital because he saw double vision the next day and I had a stiff back for a week.
MMAyou.com: Would you like to face Anderson Silva and if so how do you feel the fight would go.
Le: You know what, I would love to face Anderson Silva. A lot of people say "you should fight Anderson" but you know Anderson is UFC and I still have a four fight deal with Strikeforce. If it happens, great. If not, I'm not holding my breath. I definitely would be honored to fight someone like Anderson Silva.
MMAyou.com: Is there anyone you'd like to face right now?
Le: Right now I'm just enjoying my win and I haven't even thought about it.
MMAyou.com: You've accomplished so much in kickboxing, San Shou, and MMA. What's next for you?
Le: Movies!!!
MMAyou.com: Is there anything you would like to say to your fans?
Le: Thank you for all your support. I'm six fights deep into MMA and I got that big win against Frank Shamrock and thank you for everything and following my career and supporting me.
Fighting is set to debut on September 26th 2008. You can find more information about it by clicking here. For more information on the upcoming Tekken film please click here. To find out more about Cung Le you can visit his website www.cungle.com or his Myspace at www.myspace.com/cungle.
Be sure to check back with us soon as we will have more great interviews coming your way. We have John Machado, BJ Penn, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko and more coming soon. You can also check out our vast interview archive by clicking here.
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You could easilly be considered one of the greatest fighters alive (and all time) if you keep kicking ass the way you do.
You are the man who eventually takes Silva's belt. It's your destiny man. Please dont't sell out of mma!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sincerely,
A fan