Cung Le vs. Sam Morgan Set For Strikeforce 11/16 Show

[basslogic4003]

MMANEWS.COM | Cung Le vs. Sam Morgan Set For Strikeforce 11/16 Show

Cung Le vs. Sammy Morgan has been announced as one of the main events for 11/16 in San Jose for the Strikeforce show at the HP Pavilion



I'm not really familiar with Sammy Morgan, but I'm psyched to see Le fight again!

[Ninjamonkey]

This card is starting to shape up. I like a lot of fighters on this card, especially Overeem. Does anyone know if this card is going to be streaming on a site like proelite or yahoo videos or if we will be able to watch this card at all?

[Saskabush]

Poor Sammy I think he will get KO'd fast in this one.

I think that they are showing this event live for free on The Fight Network in Canada, not sure if it is available in the U.S. or not.

[Ninjabot]

Man i feel bad for Sam.... on the other hand, GO Cung!

[CouchBurner]

Sam was one of the favorites(not on my account, but I think I remember hearing some fighters say he was pretty damn tough) on Tuf 1 I believe. He got caught in his fight, I just can't remember by who. He went on to lose his only 2 UFC fights, and has just kind of disappeared off the fight scene. Good to see him back fighting, but I think Le will take this one.

[Mulla]

Meh, this doesnt interest me at all.

Id much rather see Cung take part in the MW tournament and face some stiffer competition.

[subgenius]

It does look like an interesting event for BodogFIGHTS and Strikeforce MMA. Cung Le should make short work of Sammy Morgan. I like Sammy Morgan, but I just do not think that he has the skills to beat Cung Le. I think that Cung Le will be a huge force at MW in MMA in the coming years.

Here is the information on the event from their newsletter:

Presented by BodogFIGHT, Strikeforce MMA "Four Men Enter, One Man Survives" will be hosting California's first sanctioned MMA tournament on Friday, November 16th, 2007 at the HP Pavilion. The single elimination middleweight (185lb) tournament will be featuring Bodog's Champion Trevor Prangley (16-4), Jorge Santiago (14-7), Yuki Sasaki (21-13-1), and Falaniko "Niko" Vitale (24-7).

World Light-Heavyweight Sanshou Champion Cung Le (4-0) will be fighting in a superfight against UFC Reality Star Sam Morgan (18-8). Cung Le has successfully evolved into the MMA world and will battle it out against a seasoned MMA fighter.

Cung Le's fighter Anthony Figueroa (4-1) will be fighting Darren Uyenoyama, jiu-jitsu specialist out of Fight and Fitness in San Francisco. Anthony recently knocked out his opponent at the last Strikeforce MMA show at the Playboy Mansion.

Heavyweight superstars Paul "The Headhunter" Buentello (23-9) and Alistair "The Demolition Man" Overeem (25-11) will compete to become the first Strikeforce World Heavyweight Mixed Martial Arts Champion.

Tickets $30, $50, $75, $100, $200, $300 are available at Cung Le's in South Bay Athletic Club - SBAC (408) 729-4468 or Jane (408) 391-6720. Or place your ticket order by credit card online at:

strikeforce.strongvon.com

Seats available in Sec 201, 101, and 127 while they last!

[T-Bone]

I'd much rather see Cung Le fight a guy who would (try to) take him to the ground. Sam will likely attempt to stand with him...and suffer the wrath of Cung.

[CounterPuncher]

Originally Posted by CouchBurner

Sam was one of the favorites(not on my account, but I think I remember hearing some fighters say he was pretty damn tough) on Tuf 1 I believe. He got caught in his fight, I just can't remember by who. He went on to lose his only 2 UFC fights, and has just kind of disappeared off the fight scene. Good to see him back fighting, but I think Le will take this one.

I think he was on TUF 2 and was given a free pass through the first round somehow, and then was knocked out by Luke Cummo.

[ChipShank]

Yeah, Cummo nailed Morgan with a knee and "knocked'em dead" as Dana so eloquently put it. LOL
Lost via Slam-KO from Burkman at the TUF2 Finale and lost a decision to Forrest Petz in the UFC. His only wins since the TUF2 season were against a dude that is 0-19 and another that's 38-61 and he hasn't fought in over a year. He does have a KO win over Duane Ludwig though, so he's got some standup.....Still....kind of a rough return bout after a year off, if ya ask me.
He seemed like a decent dude on the TUF series though and he's a fellow Minnesotan, so I gotta pull for him....but I'd personally bet that he's gonna get knocked around at least as bad as Fryklund did.

[subgenius]

I did not see any results thread for this event. It looks like Cung Le has been working hard and making some waves in MMA. I hope that his next fight is against Frank Shamrock. That will be a better measure of how good Cung Le has gotten in MMA.

Strikeforce Nov 7th
Last November 22, Cung Le and Anthony Figueroa won their bouts at the Strikeforce-Bodog MMA event in San Jose CA.

Cung Le faced Sam "The Squeeze" Morgan, a former participant of the Ultimate Fighter TV show. Sam Morgan left it all in the cage. In the first two rounds, Morgan constantly moved forward while throwing an onslaught of outside punches. But Cung Le fought smart by slipping most of Morgan's strikes and scoring with numerous counter strikes and takedowns. Although Morgan showed aggression, he suffered the end of many of Cung Le's precise punches and kicks. The referee stopped the fight 1:58 minutes into the third round when Cung delivered a devastating shin kick to Morgan's liver. Cung Le improves his MMA record to 5-0, 5 KOs. Stay tuned for his next bout on March 29th. We are hoping Frank Shamrock will be his next opponent.

Also fighting that night was one of Cung Le's top fighter, Anthony "AntDawg" Figueroa. Anthony faced Peter Sabala at the 137 lb weight class. Anthony dropped Sabala with a mean uppercut in the first round, and then dropped him again with a right hook in round 2. In the final round Anthony dropped his opponent yet another time with a knee blow to the mid-section. Anthony won by split decision, improving his MMA record to 4-1, 1 KO.

[basslogic4003]

Originally Posted by subgenius

I did not see any results thread for this event. It looks like Cung Le has been working hard and making some waves in MMA. I hope that his next fight is against Frank Shamrock. That will be a better measure of how good Cung Le has gotten in MMA.

Strikeforce Nov 7th
Last November 22, Cung Le and Anthony Figueroa won their bouts at the Strikeforce-Bodog MMA event in San Jose CA.

Cung Le faced Sam "The Squeeze" Morgan, a former participant of the Ultimate Fighter TV show. Sam Morgan left it all in the cage. In the first two rounds, Morgan constantly moved forward while throwing an onslaught of outside punches. But Cung Le fought smart by slipping most of Morgan's strikes and scoring with numerous counter strikes and takedowns. Although Morgan showed aggression, he suffered the end of many of Cung Le's precise punches and kicks. The referee stopped the fight 1:58 minutes into the third round when Cung delivered a devastating shin kick to Morgan's liver. Cung Le improves his MMA record to 5-0, 5 KOs. Stay tuned for his next bout on March 29th. We are hoping Frank Shamrock will be his next opponent.

Also fighting that night was one of Cung Le's top fighter, Anthony "AntDawg" Figueroa. Anthony faced Peter Sabala at the 137 lb weight class. Anthony dropped Sabala with a mean uppercut in the first round, and then dropped him again with a right hook in round 2. In the final round Anthony dropped his opponent yet another time with a knee blow to the mid-section. Anthony won by split decision, improving his MMA record to 4-1, 1 KO.

Thanks man, I actually didn't get the update on this, one of my fights to watch and I missed it . Le's a monster, would love to see his ground game

[subgenius]

Originally Posted by basslogic4003

Thanks man, I actually didn't get the update on this, one of my fights to watch and I missed it . Le's a monster, would love to see his ground game

Yeah, I was wondering about his ground fighting as well since did some takedowns on Smmy Morgan. Below is a picture from their fight (courtesy of Sherdog) that shows Cung Le attempting a kimura. It demonstrates that Cung Le has been training, learning, and apply ground skills. It gives me hope that he will apply his San Shuo to Ju-Jitsu in MMA.

[Gygax]

I'm a big Cung Le fan. I also hope he really steps up his level of competition in the very near future. Frank IMO is ducking him as Cung has repeatedly asked for this fight and Frank has repeatedly said Cung needs more seasoning and would like to fight him late 2008/early 2009. Frank keeps campaigning for the rematch against Renzo Gracie or a fight against his "brother", Ken.

Cung did look a little gassed at the end of this fight with Morgan. But he took home the W. Part of the reason I hope Cung gets going up in competition is because he's not getting any younger. He's 34 already.

I'd really like Cung to move out of the Strikeforce org and test his skills elsewhere. EliteXC, K-1 Heroes, HDNet, WEC, or even UFC. The talent base in Strikeforce is just too shallow. I'd love to see Cung end up against a Ninja Rua, Robbie Lawler, Mayhem Miller, Frank Trigg, or a Tim Kennedy in one of the non-Zuffa orgs.

[T-Bone]

Originally Posted by Gygax

I'd really like Cung to move out of the Strikeforce org and test his skills elsewhere. EliteXC, K-1 Heroes, HDNet, WEC, or even UFC. The talent base in Strikeforce is just too shallow. I'd love to see Cung end up against a Ninja Rua, Robbie Lawler, Mayhem Miller, Frank Trigg, or a Tim Kennedy in one of the non-Zuffa orgs.

I'm with ya, Gygax. So what's stopping him from going elsewhere? Those sound like some good matches. Imagine that...solid talent in non-Zuffa orgs.

And with the cross-promotion talk, there might be some real good matches in '08 and beyond...well, non-Zuffa matches I mean.

[Gygax]

Originally Posted by T-Bone

I'm with ya, Gygax. So what's stopping him from going elsewhere? Those sound like some good matches. Imagine that...solid talent in non-Zuffa orgs.

And with the cross-promotion talk, there might be some real good matches in '08 and beyond...well, non-Zuffa matches I mean.

I'm not sure whether Strikeforce has an exclusive contract with Le. I doubt it though. I'm sure part of why Cung will likely stay in Strikeforce is comfort level. For the most part, Strikeforce runs all their bigger shows in San Jose, which is Cungs home territory. He always has a ton of fans at those shows so the support is overwhelming. His gym is located in Milpitas, CA so all his students can always be there for him. They treat him with headliner status even though he has never beaten a top of the line opponent in MMA.

The only chance we could see one of those big fights would be another of the EliteXC-Strikeforce cross promotional events.

MTKrav might have a better perspective on how Cung Le is perceived in the Bay area.

[basslogic4003]

Originally Posted by subgenius

Yeah, I was wondering about his ground fighting as well since did some takedowns on Smmy Morgan. Below is a picture from their fight (courtesy of Sherdog) that shows Cung Le attempting a kimura. It demonstrates that Cung Le has been training, learning, and apply ground skills. It gives me hope that he will apply his San Shuo to Ju-Jitsu in MMA.

Technically it's an Americana (or keylock), but I won't hold it against ya Haha, awesome picture though. San Shou actually incorporates a lot of takedowns and monstrous slams (I think fighters are awarded between 1 and 3 points for each, depending on the "quality" of the takedown). It's such a complete standup style, I don't know why more guys don't train in it for MMA. Toss in some quality BJJ, and you got yourself one beast of a fighter!