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Around SBN: Bracketology 2012: Duke Finally Steps Up To The No. 1 Line

Le Beats Shamrock

by Kid Nate on Mar 29, 2008 11:28 PM EDT in MMA News

Why oh why don't I listen to myself -- from our staff picks -- "the thing everyone is missing -- Shamrock's knees are gone -- he hasn't shown any ability to impose or resist a takedown in years. The Frank that got taken down easy by Renzo is not the old Frank."

I KNEW that Shamrock couldn't or wouldn't try to take the fight to the ground. But I stupidly assumed (as Frank did) that he'd be able to beat Cung Le standing. Frank came pretty close at the end of the third round but obviously he couldn't do it.

Le's kicks were devastating and his punching was much better than he expected. Shamrock poured it on at the end but couldn't quite do it.

Full results here.

All in all, the rest of the card pretty much blew but the headliner saved the day. It's a real drag that we didn't get to see Jake Shields, Nick Diaz, or Cyborg fight. Full fight video in the comments.

Update [2008-3-30 0:42:33 by Kid Nate]:

Frank's wife Amy went into labor during the fight. Now they're both in the hospital. Best wishes to the Shamrocks for a safe delivery and a speedy recovery.

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Comments

What's next for Cung Le?

I wouldn't mind seeing Cung Le defend that title against Jorge Santiago.

Santiago is on a four fight win streak and did win the Middleweight tournament by beating Sean Salmon and Trevor Prangley. Santiago would be able to fight with Cung Le wherever the fight goes - standing up or on the ground. Santiago also holds wins over Jeremy Horn and Andrei Semenov during his last four fights. Only one, Semenov, made it out of the first round and none made it out of the second. That spells excitement.

The other option would be Joey Villasenor.

Shamrock won't get a rematch anytime soon. Not with his broken arm and dead knees.

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My Fave Five: Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Demian Maia, Jon Fitch, Urijah Faber

by FlyByKnight on Mar 29, 2008 11:36 PM EDT reply actions

Re: What's next for Cung Le?

Why not a unification bout with Hose? Or even the winner of Smith vs Lawler.

I don't think this would ever happen, but get Le a few more bouts, and tell me how much fun a Anderson Silva vs Cung Le fight would be. Two of the top strikers in the game going against each other. I would chose Silvia in the 2nd round, but that would be the best technical striking match in MMA.

by Schifftis on Mar 30, 2008 8:03 AM EDT up reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

What did you all make of all the high-fives and congrats passed back and forth between Le and Shamrock after every solid punch/kick landed? Maybe I'm a TUF Noob, but I thought the best thing to do was follow up with more punches/kicks.

by jaydog on Mar 29, 2008 11:49 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

Yeah I find that whole mid-round high five stuff to be pretty annoying. But I'm not the one in the cage.

by Kid Nate on Mar 29, 2008 11:57 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

It's called respect. And a show of sportsmanship.

It was the same thing that happened during the Sell/Quarry fight, I believe.

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My Fave Five: Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Demian Maia, Jon Fitch, Urijah Faber

by FlyByKnight on Mar 30, 2008 12:00 AM EDT up reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

yeah yeah i get it, and i thought it was lame during Quarry/Sell too.
once the bell rings, the fighters should be trying to KTFO each other, they can hug after the fight.

by Kid Nate on Mar 30, 2008 12:02 AM EDT up reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

In a fight like we just saw, it also has to deal with gamesmanship. They tried to get into the head of the other guy by telling the other how close they were to knocking them out and crap like that. So it's a two-fold thing. It's sportsmanship and gamesmanship. I'm just glad Shamrock lost. I can't stand him. Glad he decided to be stupid and stand right in front of Cung so that he could be pasted with kicks over and over. Le's kicks are so pinpoint he just kept aiming for the same place on Shamrock's arm and it paid off. I had Le winning the first three rounds so Shamrock had to land something substantial to win the fight and I thought it was possible before he took that high kick very late in the third round.

Personally, I think Shamrock should retire. He has nothing left except beating washed up veteran fighters.

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My Fave Five: Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Demian Maia, Jon Fitch, Urijah Faber

by FlyByKnight on Mar 30, 2008 12:10 AM EDT up reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

I think Cung needs to cut to 170 and fight Jake Shields. Easily the best available matchup for either guy.

by Kid Nate on Mar 30, 2008 12:20 AM EDT up reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

Shields and Fickett are going to be fighting so I don't know about that.

Santiago or Smokin' Joe would be the best fight for Cung Le right now.

Either that or cross-promote him to fight Robbie Lawler.

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My Fave Five: Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Demian Maia, Jon Fitch, Urijah Faber

by FlyByKnight on Mar 30, 2008 12:24 AM EDT up reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

I thought Frank was using the "high-fives" to keep Le from getting off once he landed something. Every time Le landed something, Frank would some back with some sort of high-five or taunt that would keep the pace down. Normally, when you land something, you follow up with more (as jaydog suggested). Pretty smart on Shamrock's side (if that was the case).

by holden636 on Mar 30, 2008 2:10 AM EDT up reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

Good fight. Reminded me in spots of Gatti-Ward, particularly when Frank made his big charge in the third round and Le stayed with him.

I get the sportsmanship/gamesmanship thing, but count me in for those that find mid-fight "Nice punch, bro!" shit to be really annoying.

Bad Left Hook
Camden Chat

by Scott Christ on Mar 30, 2008 12:19 AM EDT reply actions

Round 1

by Kid Nate on Mar 30, 2008 2:00 AM EDT reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

Part 2

by Kid Nate on Mar 30, 2008 2:02 AM EDT reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

I'm convinced you could hit Shamrock on the button with a baseball bat and he would still just grin at you. That was an amazing display by both fighters.

by smoogy on Mar 30, 2008 2:10 AM EDT reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

Fickett was more entertaining.

by DirtyML on Mar 30, 2008 4:48 AM EDT reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

I loved the second graphic in the main entry -- it was like a kung fu movie where the jerk tries to punk the master and gets dumped on his ass. Le striding away from it was classic.

Bad Left Hook
Camden Chat

by Scott Christ on Mar 30, 2008 5:51 AM EDT reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

Part 3

by Kid Nate on Mar 30, 2008 12:19 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

Man, the fight was playing out like I thought it would. I figured in the third or fourth Frank would start to land and would hurt Le. And in the third it totally happened...Le was hurt by some of those punches. Unfortunately the injury cut off what I was sure would be a Shamrock win. I really would have loved to have seen him step it up a little earlier.

by Brent Brookhouse on Mar 30, 2008 2:14 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

Frank made a mistake -- blocking those high kicks with one hand when he should've been using two.
After the Gonzaga/Couture fight and this, I think it's pretty clear that high kicks need to be blocked with two forearms and not one.

by Kid Nate on Mar 30, 2008 2:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

You block head kicks with one forearm and one hand, not two forearms.

by Luke Thomas on Mar 30, 2008 2:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

So, am I the only one who watched this and thought we saw two evenly matched if not especially good fighters?

by Richard Wade on Mar 30, 2008 4:48 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

No, I thought so too. Pretty evenly matched, yet neither guy is particularly spectacular. I don't expect Cung Le or Frank to be making a run for number one (except in the minds of Sherdoggers) anytime soon.

by ilostmydog on Mar 30, 2008 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

Too true with regard to Sherdog posters. They are honestly worse than a majority of sports talk radio callers.

by Richard Wade on Mar 30, 2008 5:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward wouldn't be confused with being super elite level boxers either but they put on some epic performances together that leave folks still mentioning their battles with reverence. Frank is past his prime and Cung is too early in his MMA career to know if he has "it" but despite those limitations they put on a highly entertaining fight, in my estimation. Two evenly matched guys in front a hot crowd can do magical things, you know kinda like Forrest Stephan I.

by robnashville on Mar 30, 2008 6:48 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

I thought this was a good fight, don't get me wrong. However, I think to say it was as good as any of the Gatti/Ward fights or even Bonnar/Griffin I would be wrong. I just didn't find it as tremendously exciting as many other fights I've seen before.

by ilostmydog on Mar 30, 2008 9:07 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

A lot of that comes down to Le not being smart. There were a couple times where it was obvious that he had at least stunned Frank a little...but then got drawn into the cutesy "smile and thumbs up" shit rather than just trying to take his head off.

by Brent Brookhouse on Mar 30, 2008 9:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

100% agree.

Le is the better technical striker. But he doesn't have huge KO power.

Frank hurts you when he hits you. But he doesn't have the technique of Le.

So it was Le landing strikes that didn't really "hurt" Frank (I mean...yes...he obviously "hurt" him) and when Frank hit Le, Cung looked pretty hurt.

I'd be interested in a rematch...I just wish I hadn't lost $60.

by Brent Brookhouse on Mar 30, 2008 7:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Le Beats Shamrock

here is another nice gif

http://www.allelbows.com/see/shamrockdoctor.gif

by ekc on Mar 31, 2008 5:36 AM EDT reply actions

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