Originally Posted by Gygax

Been pretty busy all day, but have been thinking about this fight specifically a lot.

I'm surprised by how many of the pundits are saying this may very well be fight of the year. It was a very good fight. But I really feel the absolute electric atmosphere of the crowd in San Jose (may be the best MMA crowd in the US time and again) made it a lot more exciting than it actually was. I'd be willing to bet that the Liddell-Silva fight, which also went 3 rounds, show a similar amount of strikes landed. Cung's array of kicks was great, but they still count for a point. Please don't take this as me saying it was a bad fight. It was great! But FOY? I kinda hope not with 9 months to go.

My favorite part of the fight was after all the showmanship (I’d call it showboating) by Frank for the first two rounds, it was the look of frustration on his face when he was standing up from getting his leg swept so beautifully out from under him. That was priceless to see after all the smack he talked, including the "sleep" sign he made in the first round.

I said it before the fight here and on MMAonTap, that I completely figured that Frank would be true to his word and stay standing. Its been 5 years since we last saw Frank actively go for takedowns in an MMA fight, against a vastly overmatched Bryan Pardoe. Various sites seemed stunned that this submission expert didn't take the fight to the ground. Newsflash. Frank Shamrock was a submission expert 10 years ago!!!

In the last 9 years, he has beaten Elvis Sinosic by decision ( a guy fighters such as Bisping, Calhoon, and Sakara among others have finished), bodybuilder Bryan Pardoe, TKO'd an aging Cesar Gracie in his MMA debut, lost by DQ to Renzo Gracie in a fight he was losing, and RNC'd Phil Baroni after rocking him. And after Baroni got beat for the 4th time in 6 fights, maybe that result was not as good as I thought. We love to show how guys from the early days of the UFC/Pride have just not evolved. Guys like Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, and Mark Coleman, right down the line to even Matt Hughes and Carlos Newton. Maybe even Frank Shamrock has not completely evolved as well. Yes, he was one of the very first who really showed an all around game. But his results over the last 9 years just do not back up the hype.

The fact that he will not have his ACL reconstructed and thus be able to use it as a crutch is just further proof of his arrogance. Its a shame, because I used to be such a huge Frank Shamrock fan, but I’m so tired of his act and just loved watching him get beat last night. He is a great fighter, I honestly believe that. But he is simply not the MMA god that he and his supporters make him out to still be. At least not anymore.

On to Cung Le. Each time I watch him fight, I become a bigger and bigger fan. My criticisms of Shamrock are not meant to take away from Le's performance. He never fell into any of Frank's traps and simply took him apart. He was rocked a few times, especially with a minute left in the 3rd round, but recovered very nicely and responded in kind. I think CUng has a bright future in MMA with his age possibly being the determining factor holding him back.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves and fall into the rhetoric that Gary Shaw would have us believe. Cung is nowhere near the top of the foodchain in the middleweight class. Besides Anderson Silva being head and shoulders above him IMO, I have little doubt that Dan Henderson would do a very nice job of getting a greco clinch on Le and securing a takedown. Same with a Matt Lindland. I'd certainly give Nate Marquardt a legitimate chance to take him down into his control. If you'd like to play MMA math, it took Cung into round 3 to take out Tony Fryklund, a guy that was finished in one round by Silva, Salaverry, Goulet, and Thomas Denny. Heck, Sammy Morgan took Cung into the 3rd round. I don't need to go over his level. So while I think Cung is dynamite, we need to remember the level of his MMA competition up until this point.