Le Takes the Battle For San Jose

By Mario Ortega Jr. (cageside)

MMA phenom Cung Le won the battle of former sparring mates and San Jose transplants, scoring a third-round TKO over MMA legend Frank Shamrock to capture the Strikeforce Middleweight title in front of a raucous crowd of 16,326 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.

The much quicker Le, 183, controlled the fight from the outset, picking Shamrock apart from the outside with kicks and punches. Shamrock, 185, stayed true to his pre-fight word, staying on his feet, fighting Le’s fight. In the first, Le kept Shamrock on the outside with his quick feet and hands. The veteran Shamrock was the one who looked tense, while his opponent looked comfortable from the beginning. Shamrock only awakened after Le missed a kick, landing a few solid shots near the end of the round.

Round two looked much the same as the first, with Le controlling the action in the stand-up position, and the much slower Shamrock looking his 35 years of age. Le, who is also 35, kept Shamrock where he could not hurt him the majority of the bout. Le dominated the first four minutes of the third round, much as he did the first two, even sending Shamrock to the ground with a kick. The next fifty seconds completely belonged to Shamrock who finally got close enough to land some telling punches, the first of which being a straight right hand that seemed to bother Le. The momentum quickly turned back in Le’s favor, as he landed a kick to Shamrock’s arm. Shamrock retreated in pain, with Le following to land another kick, this time to Shamrock’s head as the round came to a close. At the end of the round, the ring physician ordered a stop to the bout, as Shamrock may have suffered a broken arm.

With the win Le improves to (6-0), while Shamrock falls to (24-9-1). While the bout had its share of excitement, it was apparent from the beginning this was a fight between friends with a great deal of respect for one another. Often times when one of them would land a good shot, the other would nod in approval and they would end up touching gloves.

Drew Fickett of Tucson, Arizona scored a quick first-round submission victory over reigning Spirit MC Middleweight Champion Jae Suk Lim of Korea. Fickett locked in a guillotine choke on Kim, who tapped out at 1:14 of the opening round. Fickett improves to (31-6), while Kim, whose title was not on the line, falls to (9-4).

Lim was a late addition to face Fickett after original opponent Nick Diaz of Stockton, California, was ruled out by the California State Athletic Commission earlier in the week. The commission’s decision on Diaz caused a great deal of controversy heading into Saturday. It was reported that Armando Garcia forced the removal of Diaz from the card due to his medicals’ late arrival in to the commission. The reason was publicly disputed by promoter Gary Shaw, who said other fighters’ medicals were accepted after Diaz’ were sent in. Speculation is that Diaz was ruled out for declaring his medicinal use of marijuana, despite not testing positive for the drug. Diaz holds a first-round TKO victory over Fickett.

Gilbert Melendez of San Francisco, California completely dominated Gabe Lemley of New London, Iowa, scoring a second-round knockout at 2:18 in defense of his Strikeforce Lightweight title. Melendez, 154 ½, took Lemley to the ground early in the first and kept him there for the entire round, reigning down punches while Lemley tried to block and grab as much as possible. Towards the end of the round it looked as if the referee would have to stop it, but Lemley made it to the bell. Melendez took Lemley back to the ground early in the second, and this time the referee did stop it after a series of unanswered punched landed to the head of the Iowa native. Melendez improves to (14-1) while Lemley falls to (11-7).

Wayne Cole of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma improved to (11-6) with a quick armbar submission of local favorite Mike Kyle, 225, (9-6-1) of San Jose, California at just 42 seconds of the opening round. For Cole, 209, it marks the most impressive victory of his MMA career.

Joey Villasenor, 185, of Albuquerque, New Mexico scored a devastating first-round knockout of Ryan Jensen, 186, of Omaha, Nebraska at 4:45 of the first round. Jensen tried competing with Villasenor at his own game – boxing. It was a mistake in strategy as Villasenor was a regional amateur boxing champion with a (16-0, 15 KOs) record as an amateur boxer. When they stood up late in the round, Villasenor lined Jensen up with his jab and landed a straight right hand that had Jensen out before he hit the ground. Villasenor improves to (25-6) with the win, Jensen falls to (11-4).

Off-TV undercard:

In the walkout bout, Billy Evangelista (6-0), 160 1/2, of Fresno, California scored a third-round knockout of Marlon Simms (3-3), 162 ½, of San Jose California at 39 seconds of the round.

Tiki Ghosn, of Huntington Beach, California, improved to (10-7) with a three-round decision over local product Luke Stewart, 171, of San Francisco, California, who fell to (5-1). Ghosn, 171, controlled the action, winning by scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27.

San Francisco, California’s Darren Uyenoyama, 136, defeated Anthony Figueroa, 133, (4-2) of Gilroy, California via submission at 1:27 of the first round. Uyenoyama improves to (4-1) with the win.

In the opening bout of the evening, Jesse Jones, 173 ½, (2-0) of Redwood City, California defeated Jesse Gillespie, 180, (1-1) via submission at :35 of the opening round.

The event was co-promoted by Strikeforce and EliteXC and broadcast live by Showtime.