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By Astrid Bidanec  SAN JOSE, Cali.—Cung Le proved that he has rightly been called the Human Weapon, when he defeated the MMA legend, Frank Shamrock, on March 28, 2008 after three grueling rounds in front of a local audience of 16,326. He left the former long-reigning Strikeforce champion with a broken arm and without a belt.
Photo by Astrid Bidanec
Cung Le with Strikeforce belt
Shamrock was well aware of Le’s outstanding striking skills and revealed in a pre-fight interview on Friday that his own advantage would be on the ground. Nevertheless, the match was quite even paced throughout the first two rounds, with both fighters feeling each other out and delivering kicks and punches. It was obvious that Cung Le was determined to fight the fight of a kick boxer and stick to his stand-up game plan by avoiding a ground match at all cost. Le and Shamrock displayed tremendous respect for each other, and awareness of the other fighter’s strengths and skills. In round one Le almost put a nail in his own coffin when he failed to finish his leg kick spinning combination and Shamrock jumped on his back, finally taking the fight to the ground. Le, however, was able to get back on his feet and continued to serve Shamrock his famous kick and punch combinations. Le admitted during the post-fight press conference that Shamrock almost knocked him out when he punched him on his left eye in round two. It was only due to his stamina and strong desire to become the new Strikeforce champion that he pulled through. In round three Le certainly found his mojo and dished out several well aimed and powerful leg kicks and punches to Shamrock’s head and upper body. At the end of round three Shamrock was in obvious pain and forced to give up when he went back to his corner and realized that his arm was broken. While no official re-match has been scheduled yet, Le announced that he is ready to take on Shamrock again at any time.
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