Cung Le mania on NBC this Saturday night

by Press Release on Dec 5, 2008 2:43 PM EST

cung le donruss
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Strikeforce World Middleweight (185 lb. limit) Champion, Cung Le, will seize the spotlight during an all-new "Strikeforce on NBC" episode on Saturday night.

The special, 30-minute program, devoted entirely to the one-of-a-kind knockout artist, will showcase Le’s stoppages of Mike Altman and "Mr. Unbreakable" Brian Warren and will revisit his crushing knockouts of "The Ultimate Fighter" season three veteran, Sam "The Squeeze" Morgan, and Tony "The Freak" Fryklund.

Also included in the show is a feature segment that touches on the personal life of Le, who fled a war-torn Vietnam, just days before the fall of Saigon, as a baby in his mother’s arms in 1975.

Le’s victories over Altman and Warren were ranked number one and two, respectively, according to the results of an online poll that gave fans the opportunity to vote for their all-time favorite Strikeforce knockout on the promotion’s official Web site, www.strikeforce.com, last week.

A former junior college and high school wrestling star, Le has pioneered the Chinese stand-up fighting art of San Shou, which aided his run to a perfect 16-0 record in the sport of professional kickboxing and an International Kickboxing Federation (IKF) world championship. His kickboxing conquests, which included three victories in K-1 North America "Superfights," have aired repeatedly on ESPN and ESPN2.

Two years after making his highly-anticipated mixed martial arts (MMA) debut, Le notched what is undoubtedly the greatest win of his career -- a third round TKO of former UFC middleweight champion and MMA legend, Frank Shamrock on March 29th of this year. The live SHOWTIME televised victory earned Le the Strikeforce middleweight crown.

Le recently returned home from a two month stay in Berlin, where he completed his third acting stint for the silver screen, a supporting role in the science fiction thriller, "Pandorum," which co-stars award-winning actors Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma, Alpha Dog). The film is slated for release next fall.

"Strikeforce on NBC," the first 52-week mixed martial arts series in network television history, airs every Saturday, immediately following NBC’s hit poker tournament series, "Poker After Dark" (check local listings). MMA legend Ken Shamrock and award-winning ESPN announcer, Lon McEachern, co-host each program and provide expert, play-by-play commentary.

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I’ll start caring about Cund Le when he starts fighting again.

Should be a nice highlight show though. I’ve a;ready seen most of his matches through the original airing of the shows on NBC.

by DDT on Dec 5, 2008 2:47 PM EST reply actions

I agree, who has he fought any ways? an old shamrock! overrated is the word that sums un cung le!

by kevin on Dec 5, 2008 3:05 PM EST up reply actions

but he beat mike altman! lol

by brendan on Dec 5, 2008 3:11 PM EST up reply actions

I know, I put the list up last week!

by kevin on Dec 5, 2008 3:33 PM EST up reply actions

kev, what are your thoughts on Bama Florida this weekend?

by James S on Dec 5, 2008 3:41 PM EST up reply actions

florida all the way
oklahoma
ball st tonight
I’m actually capping college football right now, I’ll let you know all my picks in a bit!
went 2-1 last night, friggin one score in 2nd half!

by kevin on Dec 5, 2008 3:48 PM EST up reply actions

alright james (and anyone else that cares) I’m 30-9 from nov 1 until now on football picks. here’s my picks for tonight/sat
fri:
ball st.
over
sat:
oklahoma
florida
usc
bc
.
leaning towards uconn, ecu and hawaii too. not sure yet on these 3.

by kevin on Dec 5, 2008 4:02 PM EST up reply actions

I’ll put my NFL picks up tomorrow, pats for sure!

by kevin on Dec 5, 2008 4:11 PM EST up reply actions

That’s how I got it as well. Pretty confident in Florida early this week, but as its gotten closer I’ve started to second quess. Thanks

by James S on Dec 5, 2008 5:13 PM EST up reply actions

Why bother to promote a guy who doesn’t want to fight?

by Rich B on Dec 5, 2008 3:27 PM EST reply actions

my thoughts exactly…..

by the worlds toughest nurse on Dec 5, 2008 5:55 PM EST up reply actions

Dude looks like Gorillas in the Mist

by RedDog on Dec 6, 2008 5:48 AM EST up reply actions

Morgan is from season 2, not three. Lost to Luke Cumo.

by theCloser on Dec 5, 2008 3:49 PM EST reply actions

Yea I agree Rich B. If this guy chooses to blow his potential on some movie opportunities instead of furthering his career then why should we as fans even care about the guy?

His last interview was so disappointing. A Tekken movie? Seriously?

by Ballam on Dec 5, 2008 3:50 PM EST reply actions

cung le is a lot like Utah in ncaa football this year….undefeated and hasn’t really faught anyone other than Frank Shamrock who looked like he did not take the fight serious. I think cung le is good we can’t say he sucks because no one has beaten him. If you can beat a string of average guys then you are better than average. I want to see him fight someone good and now. He hasn’t had a fight since April. He is the best kicker out there and has throws and takedowns. How is his ground game?

by hatteras on Dec 5, 2008 4:14 PM EST reply actions

I have the feeling a lot of people who post on this site obviously feel if you’re not in the UFC you’re not worth a shit it’s really a little ridiculous.That being said I’d like to see a Cung Le/Robbie Lawler fight both are UNDERRATED fighters.

by tyler on Dec 5, 2008 4:24 PM EST reply actions

Aside from Frank Shamrock, name a top 10 guy Le has beat in MMA?What? You cant? I didnt think so.

by the_mexicutioner on Dec 5, 2008 4:27 PM EST up reply actions

So what? Who gives a shit!Those fucking rankings that are posted on various websites don’t mean a thing rankings are all subjective and are only matters of opinion.That’s why I give less than a shit about where Robbie Lawler or St.Pierre or Arlovski or anyone else are ranked because the rankings are meaningless.How many times have you watched a fight between two guys that are ranked by no one and the fight is excellent a lot,because when they get in the cage or ring, the crowd,television audience and the fighters are not thinking what were not in the top 10 this fights going to suck.Rankings are fucking useless and ask just about any fighter and they’ll tell you that they don’t give a fuck where their ranked in some website’s top 10.

by tyler on Dec 5, 2008 4:48 PM EST up reply actions

Ok then, name any top guy aside from Shammrock that he has beat? Look at the records of the other guys he has beat. Not very impressive. But hey, if beating mediocre fighters with double digit losses or losing records impresses you thats cool.

by the_mexicutioner on Dec 5, 2008 5:40 PM EST up reply actions

Its not that everybody thinks he isnt shit its becouse he has some potential to be a great fighter and he would rather waste his career doing movies.. he is 36 and by what he is saying he might not fight till late 2009…
Whats he gonna do fight once a year??
Thats not a champion…

by mike22 on Dec 5, 2008 6:03 PM EST up reply actions

Plain and simple….The guy doesn’t fight! How can you make the assumption that we feel that way about MMA. It will be well over a year since his last fight when and if he steps into the cage again. If all we cared about was the UFC why the F&ck are we even on this thread? We are talking about a “champ” that doesn’t care what the fans think or want to see. Defend your title….

by the worlds toughest nurse on Dec 5, 2008 6:05 PM EST up reply actions

I haven’t heard anyone say that Cung Lee isn’t an exciting fighter to watch. I too would love to see a fight between him and Lawler, I think it would be very entertaining. But I think the point that he hasn’t faced the stiffest competition is completely valid. I don’t think that people are saying he’s not any good, just that they want to see him fight some better competition. That’s the way I feel at least, I don’t want to try and speak for anyone else.

by GregC on Dec 5, 2008 6:12 PM EST up reply actions

Cung Le is a bad motherfucker.If you don’t think so I really don’t give a shit.

by tyler on Dec 6, 2008 3:07 AM EST up reply actions

the_mexicutioner I imagine to be about as arrogant and nauseating as a human being can be and most likely a huge Dana White fan.

by Lincoln on Dec 6, 2008 3:10 AM EST up reply actions

Why thank you Lincoln.

by the_mexicutioner on Dec 6, 2008 5:48 AM EST up reply actions

Personally, I am sick of talking about Cung Le and wishing for him to fight again. He is a movie star now! He clearly doesnt want to fight…..Lets just forget about this guy and MOVE ON!!!!!

by john on Dec 6, 2008 11:24 AM EST up reply actions

Speak for yourself. If you’re sick of the guy don’t waste your time posting comments about him.If other people are still interested let them be.What the fuck!Go and watch the shitty TUF 8 Finale coming up.

by tyler on Dec 7, 2008 2:51 AM EST up reply actions

The fight with Franky was stupid anyways. How can you say he did well? Frank broke his arm in the first round and he still couldnt really finish Frank off. That doesnt sound like a good win to me. Plus Frank is like 81 years old. He hasnt beat any real competition in my book.

by enzo-enormous on Dec 5, 2008 4:45 PM EST reply actions

Jorge Gurgel signed with Strikeforce. Now we can watch him lose on NBC!

by Ray on Dec 5, 2008 8:12 PM EST reply actions

Who’s Cung Le?

by paniczoo on Dec 5, 2008 8:14 PM EST reply actions

Jeez feed him to silva or machida Already

by Sangnom on Dec 5, 2008 10:03 PM EST reply actions

This crazy show is on at 4:30am sunday in CA. I never knew it existed and maybe it belongs in that time-slot, but I’m gonna tape it anyway to check it out. But who the hell is Cung Le?