Frank Shamrock on Cung Le

I was in a bookstore and saw Frank Shamrock's new book. I flipped through it and with the recent Cung Le KO of Rich Franklin, the following caught my eye. If you missed the fight, I made an animated GIF you can view here.

Frank Shamrock on Cung Le

... I knew all about Cung and his fighting style. I knew his skill set. He was very fast. He was able to lean his center quickly in all four directions and avoid strikes. This was important, because it was going to be hard to damage him. I knew he was very good with his feet. ...

... I knew two things about Cung that gave me an edge. First, I knew he didn't have the conditioning. He has never made it, and remained strong, past fifteen minutes. Most of his wins had been in the first round. So I knew he couldn't fight a long fight. I knew if I could keep him fighting and get to the third round, he'd be toast. I also knew that he is afraid to get hit. He hates getting hit. That's one of his dirty little secrets. He doesn't want to have a fistfight. 

...

But I found myself getting tired, trying to hit him when he wasn't there. He was really fast, and he moved in unusual ways. He used angles that were not traditional fighting angles and were not the usual modern fighting style. You never lean back and drop your hands in boxing. You never lean forward and drop your hands in kickboxing. But he was doing that kind of thing. ...

The second round started. I got more comfortable. I was smiling and laughing. But then he kicked me in the side of the head with a roundhouse and knocked my mouthpiece out. He hit me with his shinbone, and I didn't see it coming. We stopped and he let me pick up my mouthpiece, and we grinned at each other. But it made me nervous. I didn't even see the kick. It was that fast. I didn't like being hit by something I hadn't even seen. 







Unchanged: My Life as a Champion MMA Fighter
By Frank Shamrock and Charles Fleming
Copyright 2012
Chicago Review Press
Pages 186-190