Got caught: Scott Smith knocks out Cung Le at Strikeforce: 'Evolution'
by MMAmania.com on Dec 20, 2009 12:20 AM EST
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"He caught me with a punch. He was the better man tonight. I did my best and he caught me, so, I did my best. I'm sorry I couldn't get the victory for San Jose. I fought me heart out. He fought his heart out. We fought an exciting fight. Thank you for the fight, Scott Smith. I was focused. I just got caught with a punch. You win some, you lose some. I did my best."
-- Cung Le reacts to getting finished tonight for the first time in his mixed martial arts career. His opponent, the hard-hitting Scott Smith, had a puncher's chance heading into his middleweight main event opposite the former middleweight champion at Strikeforce: "Evolution" tonight (Dec. 19) at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. However, he nearly didn't get that chance because he couldn't connect with the elusive San Shou practitioner, who battered "Hands of Steel" for more than two full rounds and nearly had him finished in the first. Smith was able to hang in there and eventually connect with two big left hooks, a straight right and some brutal finishing shots at the end that put Le down for the count. It was yet another Hail Mary, come from behind win for Smith and certainly a disappointing loss for the action movie star. So should Le stick to the Silver Screen or is a loss to the inconsistent Smith just the wake up call he needs to dedicate his time to mixed martial arts while he's still able to compete? Let's hear it, Maniacs!
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DID YOU SEE HIS NOSE!
His face got pushed in! that was crazy!
Scott Smith
Scott Smith may be the best comeback fighter of all time. If they made a dvd of best comebacks, at least half of the top ten would include Smith.
awesome indeed
It was a thrilling night, exciting finishes and an awesome 5 rounder. Cung was electrifying, loved what he was doing, but Smith does it again. The whole show and winners impressed me.
'How's taste my pee pee pee?'
Thomson — Melendez was good, but I wasn’t overly excited at any time of the fight.
I dont like Smith that much. I dont think he’s that good, and he keeps getting lucky. But I dont like Cung that much either, so whatever.
i was impressed with Jacare’s performance, and was hoping he’d get the Law with the omoplata.
Lastly, I HATE the Strikeforce commentating/announcer corp
by Synyster_08 on Dec 20, 2009 12:34 AM EST up reply actions
That's one of my biggest complaints..
Say what you want about Frank Mir but he does a great job commentating. Atleast he knows wtf he’s talking about. Switching back and forth last night….WEC seemed like an actual sport with it’s commentating while Strikeforce bordered on WWE at times.
by HappyLittleTreez on Dec 20, 2009 8:46 AM EST up reply actions
This fight was one of my highlights of the year
Seeing Dung get KO’d by Smith was priceless, I can’t say enough good things about Scott he has the biggest heart in the sport, he seems to take a beating every fight and pulls a win out of nowhere. Whilst Dung had the flashy kicks, he didn’t have the heart of Smith.
Great night of fights for SF again, I’m watching Thomson-Melendez now and haven’t seen the WEC yet, but so far I’m so impressed with Scott, Jacare and King Mo and I’m looking forward to seeing Gilbert regain his belt (I stumbled across the result whilst looking for the fight). Great job from SF, hopefully the WEC was just as exciting.
Frank Shamrock is a shit commentator, all that egomaniac does is talk about himself and how great he is. Even Mir isn’t that arrogant and bias aside actually looks to talk about the fighters and the fight, you don’t hear him talking about himself/
"If you’re a fight fan, I don’t know how you don’t think that that card is a great card…." Dana White on UFC 108
20%: Percentage of MMAManiacs buying UFC 108 (I guess the other 80% aren't "real fight fans" according to Dana)
Cung and Smith are both really good guys.
Great night of fights The most impressive people were by far Jacare and El Nino. Both of them looked outstanding.
on a side note, the WEC was great too
as fans of mma, we have come from having to watch Pride from Japan for good fights to having 2 great events in the same night in the USA.
Cung Le Ducked Title Defenses Because He Gets Clipped By Average Fighters...
Strikeforce has zero production quality, they put on a boring show… they are quickly becoming more and more like Elite XC. Where Elite focused all their marketing around Kimbo… Strikeforce is now milking Fedor, and one or two other fighters that all made their names in the UFC. It has already been said, but… their commentating sucks too.
WEC was amazing tonight. WAR CERRONE! Those knees connecting were Radcliff’s fault, he lead into cerrone with his hips, when Cerrone was trying to create space so his knees could land, um… where they were SUPPOSED TO.
Brad Pickett also impressed me. That dude has a chin! And what was with that Horodecki kid? Running away leaving his head exposed for a high kick? Good night of fights all around though!!
retard alert.
You are either a troll or an idiot. The El Nino vs. Thomson fight was amazing and the other ones were not bad either. I have yet to figure out how a 4 year old organization that has shown over 20 cards and is developing alot of talent is milking a fighter they have shown once.
LOL
Im just waiting for your to take DAna White’s Dick out your ass and then maybe youll realise Strikeforce had a better show and is on the heels of UFC
by The real ZACK on Dec 20, 2009 1:41 AM EST up reply actions
On the heel of the UFC...
Granted they a putting on some great shows but I don’t know if on the heels of the UFC is correct. They have a deep 185# pool and that is it. That being said between Anderson Silva, Nate Marquardt, and Damian Maia, they would complete dismantle the 185# depth in SF with the exception of maybe Mousassi, and possibly JAcare(who’s stand up looked much improved). I would say HEndo but he lost to Anderson already and did not take a #1 contenders match with Nate. I am excited to see JAcare though and hope he does expose Jake Shields for the one dimensional fighter he is. SF’s other strengths are Fedor, Grim (who could shake up the UFC HW division a bit), Moussasi(who I mentioned already at 185 but I think could also stir up 205 in the UFC), and last but not least Gilbert Melendez who is ranked in the high teens as of now but I think could easily be a top 10 if he was in the UFC. Now that he beat Josh Thompson, who does he fight? Maybe he could jump to the top 10 with a win against Eddie Alvarez, Hansen, Kirota, or Kawajiri but as far as SF is concerned there is nobody left without doing a co-promotion for him. So on the heels of the UFC maybe not but mos def a viable and exciting alternative to not watching any mma or to some of the crappier UFC cards (ie. some of the UK cards).
Melendez vs Aoki in April on CBS
There has been a lot of talk of Aoki coming in from DREAM and ifghting the lightweight champ for strikeforce, so I would bet that Melendez Vs Aoki will be in the works for the next CBS card in April. If Strikeforce could pull that off they would have 2 number 1 fighters in their weight divisions(arguably) fighting on the same night.
Plus I would love to see Aoki fight a more American style fighter.
That fight has been a long time coming, ever since their time in Pride
Gilbert and Aoki are the best 2 LWs outside of the UFC in my opinion and both would give BJ a decent test (then again I said that about Kenny and Diego). I can’t wait for that fight.
"If you’re a fight fan, I don’t know how you don’t think that that card is a great card…." Dana White on UFC 108
20%: Percentage of MMAManiacs buying UFC 108 (I guess the other 80% aren't "real fight fans" according to Dana)
Cung Le...
Definitely still belongs in the sport. He put on an amazing fight and was trashing Scott Smith the entire time. He’s so exciting to watch and is a real asset, I loved it!
He couldn't finish him
Everything up to that is irrelevant if he can’t win. Finally he has been exposed as the average at best MMA fighter he is.
@fjbar75 on twitter...formerly El Mexicutioner
Great night of MMA
Cung gave Scott Smith the opportunity to win. It was Cung’s fightto lose. To bad he got caught. I hope it doesn’t take away from his legacy in Martial Arts.
aka GOLDENBOYWARRIOR
by gogomaplata on Dec 20, 2009 2:13 AM EST via mobile reply actions
Paper champs
1 by 1 the SF paper champs will fall. First Cung, next sheilds..
That's only two paper champs. The other three are legit.
Frank Mir packed 30+ pounds of solid muscle onto his body in five months. Why hasn't anyone called him out for steroid use? Is it because he never wrestled for Vince McMahon? I give Mir credit for his taste in strippers/wives, not his fighting skills or his personality.
How is Jake Shields a paper champion?
He beat EliteXC’s MW champion by submission in the first round and beat Dream’s MW title contender by decision, gritting through a tight RNC in the process. All of that despite being a WW, and a damn good one at that (best WW outside of the UFC other than Diaz). Dung Le took 2 years off the sport, came back and got KO’d. They are incomparable. Typical needless bashing of SF and Shields.
"If you’re a fight fan, I don’t know how you don’t think that that card is a great card…." Dana White on UFC 108
20%: Percentage of MMAManiacs buying UFC 108 (I guess the other 80% aren't "real fight fans" according to Dana)
I wasn't agreeing with him or arguing about Shields.
I was just saying that three of them definitely aren’t paper champions. Shields is in my eyes, but who cares.
Frank Mir packed 30+ pounds of solid muscle onto his body in five months. Why hasn't anyone called him out for steroid use? Is it because he never wrestled for Vince McMahon? I give Mir credit for his taste in strippers/wives, not his fighting skills or his personality.
Animated Gif of KO
Here’s the gif of Cung getting caught http://www.gifbook.com/=ODIz
Cung Le is good...
but I hope this puts an end to the nonsense that some on here have said that he could beat Anderson Silva. I’m not hating on Cung. Personally I love his kicking style of fighting because you just don’t see those types of kicks from anyone else. But if Scott Smith can knock him out, the spider can too. I still would like to see Cung fight Jake Shields.
UNfortunately
That Logic does not work in mma or fighting for that matter..ex Jardin beat Lidell, Lidell beat Wanderlei, Wanderlei KO Jardine. Sorry man Cung Le still has a shot to beat Anderson AS does Scott Smith and any top 185. Smith showed alot I’d like to see him KO Marquardt
by The real ZACK on Dec 20, 2009 1:42 PM EST up reply actions
Smith can't compete with Bisping, let alone AS or Marquardt.
Neither can Le.
Frank Mir packed 30+ pounds of solid muscle onto his body in five months. Why hasn't anyone called him out for steroid use? Is it because he never wrestled for Vince McMahon? I give Mir credit for his taste in strippers/wives, not his fighting skills or his personality.
Smith isn't very good.
And it showed when Cung was tooling him for 8 minutes. All you people saying Cung is trash must be blind. Looked pretty clear that he gassed and got sloppy and thats what happens when you don’t train full time for 2 years. Shame he’s 37 otherwise he could easily be top 5 given a few more fights.
I was saying
To myself the whole fight “what a joke Smith is, hes not doing anything” and then BAM!
Smith got incredible heart.
by Lester The Pimp on Dec 20, 2009 3:36 PM EST reply actions
Great Fight
That was a fun fight to watch. So much for peeps who said that Strikeforce was handing Le a win…
Good fight
Both guys deserve a lot of credit for this fight. Smith always hangs in there tough and Le was great with kicks considering his layoff but probably wasn’t in tip top shape which led to his fading and subsequently getting caught. To me, this was a TKO finish not a KO.
It’s funny to me how some of you can trash Cung when the guy just lost his 1st fight in about 23 professional kickboxing or mma fights.
Cung is great
I wouldn’t trash Cung. To me he looked great in that fight. His striking and kicks are crazy.
I just think that a lot of people weren’t giving Smith a chance in that fight.
No Cung trashing here.
Just saying that he’s not in the same level as Anderson Silva. And that’s not a knock, considering Anderson has beaten the likes of Dan Henderson and Forrest Griffing. And, I believe Cung lost the fight because he got tired. It looked liked he was gassing a little bit and that’s when Smith caught him.
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