SAN JOSE – In a bruising battle of Bay Area rivals, undefeated Cung Le broke the right arm of defending champion Frank Shamrock en route to capturing the Strikeforce middleweight title with a third-round TKO on March 29th.
Presented by EliteXC and Strikeforce, the event drew 16,326 at the HP Pavilion and produced a gate of more than $1 million.
“This was a great night for MMA and everybody involved with MMA,’’ said EliteXC live events president Gary Shaw. “Cung Le beat ‘The Man.’ The respect he and Frank showed for each other was most impressive. Both athletes showed they not only are tremendous athletes but exceptional sportsmen.”
Le (6-0) said this was his toughest fight.
“I am proud to be Strikeforce champion. Tonight was a great night for MMA in general,” said Le, who was born in Vietnam but fled the war-torn country as a baby in his mother’s arms in 1975 and immigrated to the United States where his family settled in San Jose.
Both fighters were bleeding by the end of the first round, with blood coming from the lip of Le and a cut under Shamrock’s left eye. A taunting Shamrock ended the stanza by putting his hands to the side of his head as if to say, “It is time for you to go to sleep.’’
Le wasn’t distracted by Shamrock’s antics, however, and knocked out his mouthpiece after an exchange of punches at the beginning of the second round. Later in the session, Shamrock made one of his few attempts to take Le to the ground, but Le managed to escape.
Early in the third, after landing two powerful kicks to Shamrock’s head, Le connected with a sweeping leg kick that sent Shamrock to the canvas. Shamrock recovered and landed a huge right hand that hurt and dazed Le and followed with an onslaught of punches.
But Le retaliated with a barrage of kicks and licks of his own. Both fighters were bloodied and bruised after the three rounds.
“Frank is a legend, but I had a better night tonight,’’ Le said. “This was not easy. Frank surprised me by keeping his word to fight standing up, and he kept coming at me. He hit me with some good punches and rocked me a few times. I saw some stars, but this was my chance to become a world champion and I pushed through it.
“I kept aiming for his wrist with my kicks because I knew I could hurt him there. I knew he was hurt when he started blocking my kicks with just one hand. But he has so much heart, I expected him to fight with a broken arm.
“I want to thank my fans for supporting and for accepting me. I did my best and brought my heart to the cage tonight. This is an unbelievable feeling.
“I have come a long way from Vietnam to become a world champion.’’
Before he was taken to a nearby hospital for surgery for what the California State Athletic Commission described as a fracture of the distal ulna (wrist fracture), Shamrock (24-9-1) said, “Cung Le broke my right arm with a kick. I kept trying to fight through it, but it was tough. He fought really hard tonight. He is a true champion.’’
OTHER ACTION
Gilbert Melendez (14-1) of San Francisco successfully defended his Strikeforce lightweight belt with a second-round knockout over hard-trying but outclassed Gabe Lemley (11-7) of New London, Iowa, in a second world title match on a five-bout telecast.
In other televised scraps, Drew Fickett (32-5) of Tucson, Ariz., earned a shot at the vacant EliteXC welterweight crown against Jake Shields by submitting Korea’s Jae Suk Lim (9-4) in the first round; super heavyweight Wayne Cole (11-6) of Oklahoma City, Okla., submitted (armbar) Mike Kyle (9-6-1) of San Jose in the first round and EliteXC standout Joey Villasenor (25-6) of Albuquerque, N.M., knocked out Ryan Jensen (11-4) of Omaha, Neb., in the first round.
In the top non-televised fight, Tiki Ghosn (10-7) of Huntington Beach, Calif., registered an upset three-round decision over previously undefeated welter Luke Stewart (5-1) of San Francisco by the scores of 30-27 and 29-28 twice. In other non-televised action, Jesse Jones (2-0) of Redwood City, Calif., scored a 0:35, first-round TKO (strikes) over Jesse Gillespie (1-1) of San Jose; Darren Uyenoyama (4-1) of San Francisco submitted Anthony Figueroa (4-2) of Gilroy, Calif., at 1:27 of the first round; and Billy Evangelista (6-0) of Fresno knocked out Marlon Sims (3-2) of San Jose at 3ASDF |  In a fantastic third round to an exceptionally exciting, give-and-take slugfest Saturday on SHOWTIME, Cung Le delivers the kick that may have broken Frank Shamrock's arm, gets rocked by a Shamrock punch and delivers the finishing kick. Le captured the Strikeforce middleweight title when defending champion Shamrock could not continue after the third round. The EliteXC-Strikeforce event at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., was witnessed by an enthusiastic crowd of 16,326, that produced a gate of more than $1 million.
 In a rousing slugfest, Joey Villasenor knocked out Ryan Jensen in the opening bout on SHOWTIME.
 Wayne Cole submitted Mike Kyle in the first round.
 Gilbert Melendez retained his Strikeforce lightweight title with a second-round knockout over Gabe Lemley.  Drew Fickett submitted Jae Suk Lim in the first to earn a shot at the vacant EliteXC welterweight title against Jake Shields June 14 on SHOWTIME.
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