Cung Le: From the Silver Screen to the Cage

Cung Le is a man with a solid grasp on the finer points of mixed martial arts. Sure, he's armed with an undefeated record in the cage, but what makes Le different than many other fighters is his grasp on the kind of business practices that can help create a successful promotion.

"In order for this sport to grow, the sport needs your average fans like the NFL, like baseball or basketball," said Le. And sometimes the matches that the hardcore fan wants to see might not appeal to the regular, casual fan. If the hardcore fans want to see a jiu-jitsu match, I'm sure they can match Jacare up with Jake Shields. They can have a jiu-jitsu match. And then people who haven't seen MMA will watch that fight, and they won't understand it." 

And what about the perception that Le's opponents are handpicked, that he gets favorable treatment due to his friendship with Scott Coker?

"The Scott Smith fight is an interesting fight. I don't think that's an easy fight for me, not at all. That's not a handpicked opponent," said Le. "People can say whatever they want to see. They're just keyboard warriors. Go right ahead and keep clicking away at that keyboard. It doesn't bother me at all."

Check out the rest of my interview with Cung Le at Heavy.com.