Props: Tapology.com

Quoteworthy:

"I’m a little frustrated. I thought [Cung and I] were friends, but I kind of lost respect for him when he decided not to fight me and hand picked his [next] opponent. I expected it from him, honestly, because people for years were telling me that Cung Le was that way and would never fight with me, so he showed his true colors ... We have trained together and we both know what would happen, so I guess he would just prefer to give up his belt and pick fighters that he matches up well with. For a guy like me it’s hard to understand, because I try to test myself against the best."

Newly crowned Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Jake Shields slams Cung Le for his decision to vacate the 185-pound title and agree to fight Scott Smith at "Evolution" on Dec. 19 rather than defend it against the surging jiu-jitsu phenom. Shields bested Jason "Mayhem" Miller in a five round unanimous decision victory to lay claim to the belt that Le vacated just last month. The San Shou disciple contends that he was not expecting to be available to fight so soon, but his current acting gig was delayed when the movie he was filming got pushed back a year, thus freeing him up for a return to Strikeforce against Scott Smith. Is Le avoiding the ground game of Shields? Or is this just a case of inconvenient timing?