It is still one of the great moments in UFC history, at the Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale in 2006, as Pete Sell had Scott Smith stumbling and ready to fall due to a crippling body shot.  Rising from a bent cowering position, Smith recovered just enough to surprise Sell with a massive right hand as Sell was rushing in to finish a badly hurt Smith.  Sell was suddenly out cold on the mat and Smith was awarded the victory while still in agony from Sell’s original body blow. This moment may have started the “legend” of Scott Simth, but as fans have learned, it was just the beginning.  He has taken the Mohammed Ali “rope a dope” style to new levels, and was nearly finished against Benji Radach and Cung Le only to rise from near cage death to land devastating blows and pull victory from the edge of defeat, leaving fans with jaws dropped in stunned awe. ...

After a prolonged period of uncertainty, the verdict is finally in: there will be no strikeforce Middleweight Tournament. Plans were put together for a one-night tournament to crown either a new challenger or the outright champion ever since Jake Shields left Strikeforce for the UFC, leaving the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship vacant. Ronaldo Souza defeated Tim Kennedy for the title back in August, but rumors still persisted that the one-night tournament would return. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker finally laid any and all rumors to rest recently. Here are all the details. ...

While Paul Daley's position with Strikeforce has been up in the air for the most part, some citing the British welterweight was signed to a 6-fight deal, others saying he has yet to sign--it look's like the cat is out of the bag now. Not only is Daley officially signed with the organization, but he is set to make his promotional debut in a fight that has fireworks and knockout written all over it. ...

Perennial middleweight contender Scott Smith is looking to get back into the win column. After a notable win over former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le came after the result of a late-rally third round knockout in December of last year in San Jose, California, Smith would not fair so well in the rematch. After taking much time off from the fight game (a 21-month absence to be exact) to focus on a budding movie career, Le, a former San Shou world champion, came back reinvigorated in his rematch with Smith which took place last June, and after hurting his opponent several times with body kicks, would eventually earn the TKO victory in the second round, leaving Scott Smith with the biggest win of his career taken away just as fast in defeat. ...

I don’t know how it happened, considering how much I used to absolutely loathe him, but I’ve somehow become a fan of Nick Diaz. I think Diaz has emerged as one of the premier Welterweights in the sport, and one of Strikeforce’s best assets. He’s very controversial, but he backs it all up. Now more and more I find myself really looking forward to every single one of his fights. With that in mind, here are my top five picks for opponents I’d like to see Nick Diaz fight, regardless of promotion or availability. ...

For someone who once approached the upcoming video game “EA Sports MMA” with an incredible amount of hesitation, now more and more I’m thinking that October 19 can’t get here soon enough. In order to generate interest and encourage fans to open their wallets and put down a pre-order, EA Sports is revealing the entire roster of the game on a week-by-week, division-by-division basis. The Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight roster has already been revealed, and recently the Middleweights took center stage. EA Sports also recently revealed a teaser image of a famous venue that has yet to see a Mixed Martial Arts event. ...

There was a time many years ago when people thought that high kicks were useless in MMA.  After all, they often led to being taken down with little bang for the buck.  But then with the evolution of mixed martial arts, fighters began to understand all aspects of fighting.  Competitors with striking backgrounds began to fear being taken down less because they had wrestling skills to protect them.  What's more, when done right, the high kick was found to be highly effective in putting people to sleep.  And with that, it slowly began its introduction into MMA, gaining steam as time went on (Pete Williams' head kick KO of Mark Coleman at UFC 17 in 1998 was one notable instance).  Of course, spinning back kicks, sidekicks, crescent kicks, axe kicks- they were all still taboo back in 1998.  Good to look at in a controlled atmosphere, but not really effective.  Just things that Tae Kwon Do and Tang Soo Do practitioners executed in dojos and dojangs to look good. ...

Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le (6-1) has publicly called for an immediate rematch versus “Hands of Steel” Scott Smith (16-6) in a video released Monday by Strikeforce. ...

As I sat and watched Strikeforce: Evolution this morning (I DVRed the event to watch WEC live) thoughts of Cung Le (6-1) as an elite mixed martial artist crept into my head. The MMA world was ablaze with discussions on how Cung Le was on the same level as Fighters.com and UFC middleweight champion "Spider" Anderson Silva (21-4) in the striking department. I have never been one to view Cung as an elite MMA fighter and after last night the world could see why he is no where near the level of Silva or Fighters.com top-ranked "Last Emperor" Fedor Emelianenko (30-1). ...

Today in an interview with Fight Magazine Frank Shamrock (22-9-1) stated "I don’t want to fight  Jake Shields because he has no personality, he’s a boring fighter, and when he got on to CBS, and it was his chance to be a star, he leg humped ["Mayhem" Jason Miller] all night long, and killed our ratings. That’s why I don’t want to fight Jake Shields". ...

Former Strikeforce middleweight champ Cung Le (6-0) and former EliteXC title challenger “Hands of Steel” Scott Smith (15-7) will headline a Showtime-broadcast Strikeforce event at HP Pavilion in San Jose December 19, Strikeforce has announced. ...

Fighters.com and UFC Middleweight Champion “Spider” Anderson Silva (25-4) will defend his titles from unranked “Phenom” Vitor Belfort (18-8) at UFC 108 in Las Vegas January 2. ...

Perhaps former Strikeforce middleweight champ Cung Le (6-0) responded Friday morning to Fighters.com's request for confirmation that he'll vacate his title and questions about whether he was retiring from MMA vaguely, only revealing, "Details are still being worked out." ...

Fighters.com's eighth-ranked heavyweight “The Natural” Randy Couture (16-9) and tenth-ranked “Pitbull” Andrei Arlovski (14-7) support causes close to their heart and their legacies. On 15 August at the Britannia Arms in San Jose, Arlovski will join "Rumble" Anthony Johnson (7-2), Cung Le (6-0), and Jon Fitch (19-3) to "Knock Out Dog Fighting". ...

Fighter.com's friend Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le (6-0) will wax MMA Wednesday, 16 July on cable frequency ESPNEWS. Tune in at 17:10 EST! Le will share his thoughts on the explosive growth of MMA, where he feels the sport is headed and its rumored Olympic potential. ...

Saturday at Throwdown Headquarters in Las Vegas, Fighters.com caught up with Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le (6-0) to talk about his acting career and deliver a message from former Strikeforce Champ Frank Shamrock (23-9-2), as told to MMA Frenzy. In an interview, Shamrock called Le "boring" and claimed he was "beating the hell" out of Le until Shamrock broke his arm. Le took issue with how exactly Shamrock's arm was broken and sent a personal message back to Shamrock. Thanks to the Throwdown crew for allowing me to interview Cung Le at their headquarters.   ...

On 29 March, Cung Le (6-0) forced Frank Shamrock(23-9-2) to quit in his corner with a broken arm from Le's relentless kicking offense. Le won the Strikeforce middleweight title. Though his two children were sick, Le took time to talk to Fighters.com. Fighters.com: Your MMA career has always been leading to the battle of San Jose with Shamrock. Now it's over. Is there relief, a sense of accomplishment? Are you thinking about what's next? Cung Le: Relief and accomplishment. I'm just trying to take a break, but no break yet. I'm not thinking about what's next. There's a lot of negotiating and setup in an organization to schedule a fight; and, I'm just letting Strikeforce handle that. Fighters.com: It didn't look like Shamrock had much of a strategy more than "let's see what happens". Did you perceive he was trying to set-up anything or had a notion of a particular weakness? Cung Le: My coach, who used to coach Frank, said [Shamrock] looked as good as he's ever seen him. He was looking for openings and I just didn't give him any. Fighters.com: Did Shamrock do what you expected? Cung Le: Yeah. The only problem was that my coach told me he dips when he punches; so, a couple of times I got caught because I thought he was going to take me down. Fighters.com: It seems like your kicks snap more from the knee than the kicks taught to most mixed martial artists, which are more the roundhouse Muay Thai kick. Do you notice that? How do you analyze that? Cung Le: That's my secret! I'm not giving that up. Fighters.com: Let's be objective. How's your ground game? Cung Le: I'm just trying to be the most complete martial artist. No one comes to see me submit people. People want to seek knockouts and kicks. I can submit people. I took Sam Morgan to the ground and had him in a crucifix. Fighters.com: Shamrock was grinning. Do you think he didn't take you seriously? Cung Le: I was having a good time too; but, never was it not a fight. Fighters.com: Shamrock is going to ask for a rematch, if he hasn't already. Is there any reason to rematch him immediately? Cung Le: I will give him one because he gave me this opportunity. I owe him that. Fighters.com: After the fight you mentioned your helicopter flight out of Vietnam under gun fire. Was that something you thought about immediately or something you planned to say? Cung Le: Definitely, it's apart of my training. It helps motivate me. Fighters.com: Have you been back to Vietnam since leaving? Do you enjoy returning? Cung Le: I've been back twice. My dad lives there. I enjoy it. It's very emotional for me. Fighters.com: Under the ProElite umbrella, you have fellow middleweight champions Robbie Lawler and Kala Kolohe Hose. Would you like to call either of them out? Cung Le: No. I haven't even thought about fighting them. Fighters.com: Have you faced anyone in MMA tougher than your toughest San Shou fight? Cung Le: Frank Shamrockis my toughest opponent. San Shou is different. The referee stops you after each take down. MMA is much harder. Fighters.com: San Shou is an exhibition sport at this Summer's Olympics. Any plans to go to Beijing? Cung Le: No. There's a lot of politics. They decided they want to play politics and I decided I didn't want to be involved. Under me we got four bronze and two silver. Under the current coach, no one placed. Fighters.com: Now that you've got some downtime, how do you split up your time between training, your gym, your acting career, and family? Cung Le: I'm just trying to find some down time! I've got two boys that are sick; you can hear in the background. I'm sure everyone knows about my divorce and I got full custody. I've got a lot of great people around me. I don't mind doing interviews. Media and my fans are what got me here. Congratulations Cung on being Fighters.com featured fighter! ...

Last month the So Cal Team Quest camp announced the addition of "Mo" Muhammed Lawal (0-0), a championship wrestler making a gold run at the Beijing Summer Olympics. Lawal answered a few questions for Fighters.com; and, the first question I always ask wrestlers with MMA aspirations is whether they've ever been punched in the face. "I have been punched and kicked in the face," Lawal answered. It's a silly question until you've watched tough bastards who've avoided fist fights on reputation and appearance cower after taking a few hard shots to the dome. No one likes to get punched in the face.  It's a skill. Lawal has chosen the right path to pick-up the skills wrestlers before him have learned to be MMA champions. "I want to be a fighter," Lawal claimed.  "Not just a wrestler.  I love MMA and I'm an avid student of the MMA game. "I've sparred with Sokoudjou, Cyril Diabate, Dan Hendo', Chael Sonnen, Matt Lindland, Brian Stann, Alberto Crane, Mark Bocek and a few others.  I've trained with Matt and Dan, also GSP and Nathan Marquardt." Lawal has a legit' shot at Olympic gold in Beijing, which would be great for MMA, but could be terrible for Mo. Entering the sport as the big show could prevent Lawal from touring the small-ball circuits that prepare rookies for the big shows. See Brock Lesnar (1-1).  The former wrestling champion has all the physical talent to rule MMA's weak heavyweight division...eventually.  Because of his celebrity, he took only one warm-up versus "Mr. Shark" Min Soo Kim (3-6) before former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir (11-3) taught the rookie what a kneebar is in an anti-climactic minute-and-a-half.  Lesnar already has another former UFC champ on his docket, "The Hammer" Mark Coleman (15-8). But, Lawal seemed aware of the error in Lesnar's ways, saying, "I knew Brock would lose due to the inexperience factor with submissions.  It changes my attitude with the fact that I'm going to strive harder to be a well-rounded fighter." Lawal has high aspirations.  "I want to do everything Dan [Henderson] has done and more.  I want to fight at middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight.  I want to be an MMA legend." He may first make himself an Olympic legend.  He's ranked third in the U.S. Senior Freestyle Rankings at 211.5-pounds, but said, "I am dropping back down to [185-pounds] for wrestling." Lawal gives MMA fans more reasons to watch the combat sport events at this summer's Olympics.  Besides Lawal, could there be a future MMA star among the wrestlers?  The judoka?  Beijing has added San Shou to the 2008 exhibition schedule, the base martial art of new Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le (6-0). ...

Top Strikeforce welterweight contender Drew Fickett (33-5) locked in his title bid versus champ Jake Shields (20-4-1) in the form of a guillotine choke around the neck of intended Nick Diaz (15-7) opponent "The Korean Icepick" Jae Suk Lim (9-4) at 1:14 of the first round in San Jose Saturday night. Fickett was signed to challenge Shields on tonight's Showtime-televised card; but, Shields injured his back heaving a sledgehammer during training. Fickett drew Lim after Shields's partner, Diaz, was denied a license by the California State Athletic Board. The title fight has reportedly been rescheduled for 14 June in Hawaii. The absence of Shields and Diaz, popular Nor Cal warriors,  agitated thousands of hungry fight aficionados at HP Pavilion. They packed in to feast on a middleweight mixed martial arts title fight between Strikeforce champion Frank Shamrock (24-9-1) and Cung Le (6-0), heroes from opposite sides of the Capital of Silicon Valley. What they were fed was two-and-a-half rounds of brisk San Shou sparring and two-and-a-half minutes of MMA. Le remained undefeated when Shamrock quit with a broken arm after the third round, relinquishing his belt to the Vietnamese kung-fu stylist.  "He kept blocking," Le explained,  "so I kept aiming at that part of the wrist." With local street cred on the table, both fighters answered the opening bell cautious of the other's prowess. Shamrock circled in a crouching stance while pumping a lazy jab in Le's general direction, while Le waltzed warily from a safe range. When the hammer did fall, beginning with a Shamrock kick to Le's midsection countered by a Le left hand, it was in single-strike spurts followed by congratulatory high fives. They grinned at each one-off as the crowd chanted "Boring!" Shamrock closed round one with a knee busting Le's lip, but lost the round in range of Le's snapping kicks. Le opened the second frame knocking Shamrock's mouthpiece out with a left high kick. As Le learned Shamrock wasn't interested in taking him to the mat, he became more comfortable launching left and right middle kicks to setup punches to Shamrock's head, catching Shamrock with a right hook towards the round's final bell. Le topped Shamrock in round two as well. Midway through the third round, a fight broke out and the champion and challenger traded flurries against the cage. A hard left kick to Shamrock's core backed the champion into the fence and Le followed with a spinning back fist as Shamrock advanced. Shamrock walked through the worst of Le's attack and pounded punches in a flurry marked by a right fist that staggered Le against the cage. Le countered with another lightning strike body kick followed by a flurry of hooks as the bell signaled an end to the round and, as Shamrock chose not to answer the fourth round's bell, the end of the fight. "This is a dream come true," Le said after the fight.  "Coming from Vietnam under gunfire and now world champion, I love it." In undercard action, top ten lightweight "El Niño" Gilbert Melendez (14-1) shook-up and opened the anticipated can of whoop ass on last minute opponent Gabe Lemley (11-7). Referee Herb Dean showed mercy on the seemingly awe-struck Iowan and called an end to Melendez's G'n'P onslaught at 2:18 of the second round. Melendez returned like a typhoon from a loss to "The Endless Warrior" Mitsuhiro Ishida (16-3-1) in Japan, the first of "El Niño's" career. Strikeforce newbie Wayne Cole (11-6) surprised "MAK" Mike Kyle (9-7-1) in an armbar 45-seconds after the opening bell. Kyle, win-less since 2005, was rusty from a two-year absence from professional competition. In a sloppy, but entertaining 4:45 minute punch-up, middleweight Joey Villasenor (25-6) of Jackson's Submission Fighting popped late replacement Ryan Jensen (11-4) with a right hand, knocking the former UFC fighter out in his third consecutive first-round stoppage loss (all against tough competition). Team Oyama welterweight Tiki Ghosn's (10-7) takedown defence kept his scrap with young Luke Stewart (5-1) where Ghosn could pick at Stewart's stand-up.  The veteran nickle-and-dimed his way to a unanimous decision of 29-28 twice and 30-27. Stewart picks up his first "L" after five stoppage wins, all in Strikeforce affairs. Team USA grappler Darren Uyenoyama (4-1) broke bantamweight Strikeforce regular Anthony Figueroa's (4-2) two-fight win streak by sweeping from half guard into a guillotine choke, enticing the tap at 1:27 of the first frame. Undefeated Jesse Jones (2-0) exposed Jesse Gillespie (1-1), transitioning in back control from a rear naked choke to G'n'P for a 35-second TKO. Lightweight Billy Evangelista (6-0) knocked out Marlon Sims (3-3) at :39 of the third round to end the night. ...