Aaron Martinez Reporting:
On March 29th MMA fans will finally get to see Cung Le fight Frank Shamrock after several months of anticipation as both fighters have been going back and forth about why the match up has not happened yet. Le has yet to face a fighter ranked in the top 10 or even top 20 within his small MMA career of only five fights, and now Shamrock will be his first. Besides the fact that both fighter’s training facilities are less then 15 miles away from each other in San Jose, CA, this is an interesting match up because it is one of those fights where we get to answer the question of: What works better? Being very talented in several disciplines or experienced at combining them all?
Le is a Sanshou and kick boxing world champ, he was a national champion in Greco wrestling, a two time California Junior College State Champion, and now he trains Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with Garth Taylor who took second at the Mundial World Championships several years back. Le’s striking is stellar with great defense and sharp accurate kicks that snap on his opponent more like a whip then a kick. His Greco throws are highly effective; as soon as he gets an opponent in a Wizard it is only seconds before they are on the ground and on their backs.
Shamrock on the other hand was one of the first fighters to use the refined hybrid style of fighting that was known as Pankration in what is now become MMA. Pankration is the ancient Greek fighting art where striking and grappling are interchangeable throughout all phases of a fight. Where grappling sets up striking and where striking sets up grappling and Shamrock excelled with this as his background for MMA and in Pankration as well.
Regardless of both fighters past accomplishments they have both been criticized recently for not fighting competition that could actually beat them. Shamrock’s most recent fight was a dismantling of Phil Baroni who has never had a consistent record in his MMA career. Shamrock’s last true test of where he stands with ranked competition was when he beat Tito Ortiz eight years ago. And Le has been what some fans call “exposed” with his win over Sam Morgan by failing to knock out Morgan although he did submit Morgan with a kick to the liver in the second round, which apparently caused Morgan to vomit violently before being taken to the hospital.
After the fight, when the winner’s arm is held in the air it will still be a bittersweet victory for who ever wins. If Le wins then Shamrock will be blamed for dodging tough competition up until now, and if Shamrock wins then it could be excused because Le is so inexperienced in MMA. On the other hand the winner will surely move up in the rankings and further instill EliteXC and Strikeforce's legitimacy as a competitive organizations as well as strengthening MMA cross promoting in general.
Jake Shields will also fight Drew Fickett for the pro-Elite Welter Weight Title on the same card. Shields who is a top ranked Welter Weight and recently signed an extension with Stikeforce is finally fighting for an MMA championship even if it is out side of the UFC, which has the abundance of top ranked Welter Weight fighters in MMA. Shields recently defeated up and comer Mike Pyle from Extreme Couture’s camp by a rear-naked choke last November and Fickett defeated Mark Weir last December in Cage Rage. At first glance this title fight has the appearance of a “give me” Title for Shields who is currently on a nine fight win streak, but as Fickett has proved by upsetting fighters like Josh Koscheck, he certainly has the ability of upsetting any top ranked Welter Weight.
