DONRUSS CREATES CUNG LE
TRADING CARD
For
Immediate Release
SAN JOSE, Calif. —
Newly crowned Strikeforce World Middleweight
Champion, Cung Le (22-0), has been selected
to appear in the first-ever mixed martial arts
trading card series manufactured by Donruss
Trading Card Company.
Slated for release in mid-July,
“Ring Kings,” produced as an insert
series for the larger Donruss “Americana
II” set, will be comprised of approximately
30 different trading cards featuring a collection
of the sport’s top superstars. Several
editions of the Le card, including an autographed
version and a version containing swatches taken
from Le’s competition shorts, will be
issued.
“We’re excited
to be able to include Cung in our program,”
said Scott Prusha, Marketing Director for Donruss.
“Cung is an extremely exciting fighter
and winning the Strikeforce championship was
really a big thing.”
Le’s third round TKO
of mixed martial arts legend, Frank Shamrock,
which aired live on SHOWTIME on Saturday, March
29th, earned the Vietnamese-born fighter the
Strikeforce world title and marked his greatest
professional victory to date.
Prior to entering the world
of mixed martial arts in 2006, Le pioneered
the Chinese combat discipline of San Shou kickboxing,
which incorporates devastating throwing techniques
as well as striking, and amassed a perfect 16-0
record in the world of professional kickboxing.
Several of his conquests in the kickboxing ring
have aired repeatedly on ESPN and ESPN2.
More recently, Le has been
touted as Hollywood’s next big martial
arts film star. His role in the forthcoming
release, Fighting, co-starring Terrence Howard,
will mark Le’s debut on the silver screen.
Le was also recently cast in the silver screen
adaptation of smash hit video game franchise,
Tekken, slated for release next year.
The Americana product, which
Donruss launched last year, pays tribute to
the societal contributions and achievements
of various, prominent figures ranging from award-winning
actors Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn to legendary
astronaut Buzz Aldrin to President George W.
Bush. Like Donruss’ other offerings, cards
from the Americana II set will be packaged and
sold in both retail and hobby stores nationwide.
About Strikeforce:
Strikeforce is a world-class mixed martial arts
cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March
10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock
vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned
mixed martial arts fight card in California
state history. The star-studded extravaganza,
which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock
against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar
Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played
host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265.
Since 1995, Strikeforce has been the exclusive
provider of martial arts programming for ESPN
and, after 12 years of success as a leading,
world championship kickboxing promotion, the
company unveiled its mixed martial arts series
with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.” Since
then, it has co-produced the first SHOWTIME
PPV mixed martial arts event in history with
its world championship “Shamrock vs. Baroni”
card on June 22, 2007.