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.

Now, “Hands of Steel” may be looking in the mirror when he stands across the Strikeforce cage from Paul Daley on December 4^th in St. Louis.  Daley has his own list of knocked silly opponents who dared to stand with him, including UFC studs – Martin Kampmann and Dustin Hazlett.   On Saturday, two of the heaviest handed fighters in all of MMA square off and Smith thinks it will be a surprise if he spends much time with his back on the mat.

“I am definitely looking for a standup fight, but this is mixed martial arts so I have to be prepared for anything. So, I am working all aspects of my game, but I definitely plan on this being a slug fest.”

Aside from dealing with the dynamite in Paul Daley’s hands, Smith may be most anxious about getting his body down to 170lbs for the first time.

“A big part of the decision is that I have been lazy at getting away with making 185. I’ve been a little soft a couple of times.  Fighting at 170 has forced me to diet and that has been the worst part of my training.  Three weeks after my last fight I was walking around at 189, but I didn’t think there was any reason that I couldn’t cut down to 170, so I’ve been walking around at about 185, eating a ton of healthy food. I think the cut should be good. I might be crying about it on the day of weight-ins but I don’t think there is any reason why I shouldn’t be fighting at 170.”

By witness of Smith’s passion for the dramatic over his career, it is no surprise he welcomed the chance to drop to 170.  Not for the potentially painful cut, but for the chance to provide another all out, fists flying war with a like minded pugilist in Paul “Cemtex” Daley.

“I just look for these exciting fights and a fight with Paul Daley is an exciting fight.  That is more important to me that a title fight.  I know when me and Daley fight we are going to put on a show and the fans are going to like watching. Those are the type of fights I look for.

Saturday December, 4^th is a day sports fans will be flooded with entertainment options from watching Oregon and Auburn face their final hurdles to qualify for the national title game in college football, to UFC stars Demian Meia, Kendall Grove and Stephan Bonnar in action on Spike TV.  However the sports event with the most potential for pure drama and excitement will go down on Showtime when Scott Smith and Paul Daley hit the Strikeforce cage in St. Louis.

“Yeah, I think we are kind of made for each other. We are two guys who like to go banging and come at each other.  I think this has a fight of the night potential.  When I got the call to fight Paul Daley I got excited.  I think this fight will be fun.”

Thoughts MMA fans … are you as excited for this brawl as I am?

Here’s what the soft-spoken Coker had to say over at MMA Weekly: “We were hoping it would happen, but it didn’t happen, and we’re happy with Jacare being our world champion. I think he’s a great representative and a great fighter.”

I’m honestly disappointed that this idea never saw the light of day. The tournament format represents a bygone era, but several promotions have proven recently that it can still work in today’s MMA world. Strikeforce itself has held one-night tournaments in the past, although I felt their 135-pound Women’s Tournament suffered from time constraints. The fights themselves were quite entertaining, though. Perhaps an even bigger example would be Shine Fights, who I was extremely critical of in the weeks leading up to their one-night Lightweight Grand Prix only to be pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the show.

I think a Strikeforce Middleweight Tournament would have done a lot of good for the promotion. It would have given fans a lot of access to the Strikeforce talent, many of which the more-casual fans aren’t familiar with. It would have immediately established the winner and next contender/champion as a credible threat, since it takes a particular breed of athlete to fight and win twice in one night. And for the longtime MMA fans, it would have provided a rare bit of nostalgia in a sport that, for the most part, is still so relatively new. Maybe I’m looking at it with rose-tinted glasses because it happens so infrequently nowadays, but I think the tournament format is a great idea in short, controlled bursts.

But at the end of the day, I really can’t complain. Ronaldo Souza is as credible as they come, he’s a fantastic addition to the Strikeforce roster and I think he’s going to have a banner year in 2011. His standup keeps improving and his ground game is scary-good. He’s also a member of Black House, the fight camp that basically contains almost every single noteworthy Brazilian fighter currently fighting in MMA. While I would’ve liked to see him win a tournament in order to further enhance and establish his credibility, I think “Jacare” is poised to dominate the Strikeforce middleweight roster.

Looking forward, there are some huge match-ups for “Jacare” at 185. Just off the top of my head, I’d love to see Souza face Dan Henderson (if he decides to drop back down), Gegard Mousasi (he would have to drop back down too), Jason Miller, Tim Kennedy again, Cung Le, and Scott Smith. The Middleweight division clearly had enough talent for a tournament, and I think it would have benefited from a tournament, but ultimately it wasn’t in dire need of a tournament.

And what about you, fans and friends? Now that it’s finally been put to rest, what’s your opinion on the failed Strikeforce Middleweight Tournament?

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.

As previously reported, Scott Smith was to make his return to the cage come December 4, in what will actually be his welterweight debut, when he was expected to face 6-1 Jesse Finney, however, en-light of Daley signing with the organization recently, Strikeforce opted for the Smith-Daley bout in what will prove to be not only a top-contenders bout in a welterweight division which desperately needs one, but will also serve as a punch-you-in-the-face-till-you-fall, kind of fight.

After a lengthy career at middleweight which witnessed some of the greatest knockouts of Smith’s career, including former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le, and UFC veterans Benji Radach and Pete Sell, Smith will be making the drop to the welterweight division for the first time, after beginning his career nearly 10 years ago as a heavyweight.

Daley, a fellow UFC veteran who was exonerated from the promotion after a post-fight punch in unsportsmanlike conduct against Josh Koscheck back at UFC 113, most recently picked up his second consecutive victory when he bested veteran Jorge Masvidal at Shark Fights 13, winning by unanimous decision.

If someone doesn’t get knocked out in this fight, then there is something truly amiss in the world today. An exciting addition to a stacked December card, is exactly what the fans had ordered.

MMA peeps, what do you think of the addition of this bout? Who do you think will take it, and is anyone else surprised that Smith is deciding to move to welterweight, considering he’s one of the bigger 185′ers? Sound off in the comments section below.

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.

While “Hands of Steel” has had a lengthy career that began as a heavyweight, he has become a staple in any organization he fights in, as the guy who can deliver a knockout victory in any moment of the fight. Just ask Benji Radach, who after seemingly taking the first two rounds in their 185-pound match up last April in Strikeforce, succumbed to a third-round knockout at the hands of Smith, who now owns the moniker of the “Comeback Kid”.

Strikeforce obviously has invested interest in Scott Smith, and would much rather have him back in the win column. But, that means bad news for Jesse Finney.

Finney, who has competed exclusively in the 170 pound division, is coming off a loss to former UFC fighter Josh Neer in his last outing. Neer, a fighter who often bounces between both the lightweight and welterweight divisions, choked out the previously undefeated Jesse with a guillotine inside of the first round.

The bout is expected to take place on the main card of Strikeforce’s 29th event, at the Scottrade Center in St Louis, Missouri on December 4.

The headlining bout of the evening is said to be a light heavyweight tilt pitting legends Dan Henderson and Renato “Babalu” Sobral against one another.

So, mma peeps, what say you about this middleweight match up? Is Finney being thrown to the wolves at just 6-1 and coming off a loss? Or is there something more to the kid? Will Scott Smith come back and deliver another KO victory? Sound off in the comments section below.

5. KJ Noons

I know this could be considered cheating, since the fight has already been announced, but I’m looking forward to this fight so much that it just had to be included on this list. There’s a huge amount of bad blood between the two, to the point where both men were involved in an infamous post-fight brawl in the defunct Elite XC promotion. This fight will really put Diaz to the test and will once and for all legitimize him as one of the top Welterweights in the world.

4. Jake Shields

It’s not very likely since Shields is headed to the UFC and will probably never set foot back in Strikeforce, based on how Strikeforce mistreated him leading up to his victory over Dan Henderson, but this would be a great fight between two top Welterweights. Shields may be able to take Diaz down, but Diaz’s ground game is fantastic. Diaz also holds a significant striking advantage, but Shields has been stopped due to strikes only once in his entire career, at the very beginning of his career in fact. Both men are just starting to be taken seriously as “best in the world” athletes, so this would be an important stepping stone for whoever won.

3. Cung Le

Now this is a fight that anybody can get behind. Both men are so far removed from traditional striking that “unorthodox” barely begins to describe how they put their combinations together. Cung Le’s style looks flashy and ineffectual, when in truth it does major damage and has given Le all seven of his wins by (T)KO. Diaz’s peppering style of “punches in bunches” makes his punches seem weak, when in truth they do large cumulative damage and have given Diaz more wins by (T)KO than by Submissions and Decisions combined. I have no doubt that we’d see some seriously crazy things in this fight, so I’d love to see it happen.

2. Georges St. Pierre

Again, this is very unlikely but it’s a fantastic fight on paper. The number of natural Welterweights with good submission games that Georges St. Pierre has beaten can be counted on one hand. GSP would dominate with the takedown, but every takedown is another opportunity for Diaz to latch onto an arm or try for a choke. I even think GSP would have problems going for a takedown, given Diaz’s long reach and penchant for using it to the best of his ability. I honestly think GSP would win this one, but I’d be pulling for Nick. Also, I think Nick’s got a lot better of a shot than people like Dan Hardy and Thiago Alves, who lacked a good ground game, or people like Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck, who lacked good striking.

But my top pick simply has got to go to…

1. Jason Miller

“Mayhem” wants this fight to happen. Diaz wants this fight to happen. In regards to bad blood, it doesn’t get much badder than this. Both men just hate each other. Both men would step into the Strikeforce cage looking to seriously hurt each other, so I think they would both show up in the best shape of their lives, having gone through one of their toughest training camps ever. This could even be a champion-versus-champion fight by the time it takes place, stranger things have happened. But no matter when it goes down, look for Jason Miller vs. Nick Diaz to be an awesome, awesome fight.

So there are my picks, fans and friends. Who would you like to see face off against Nick Diaz?

But first, here’s how the Middleweight roster breaks down. Looking at the title picture from left to right, the EA Sports Middleweight roster features Benji Radach, Lyman Good, Matt Lindland, Luke Rockhold, Frank Trigg, Joe Riggs, Kazuo Misaki, Scott Smith, Murilo Rua, Tim Kennedy, Pat Miletich, Jake Shields, Nick Thompson, Melvin Manhoef, Robbie Lawler, Dan Henderson, Gegard Mousasi, Jason Miller, Cung Le, Nick Diaz, Frank Shamrock, and Ronaldo Souza.

It should be noted that eight fighters in the Middleweight division are carry-overs from the already-announced Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight divisions. There’s some debate going around the internet gaming forums as to whether or not this is a cheap move in order to cut the time down on coding and creating different fighters, or a good way to ensure quality cross-division super-fights. I personally think it’s a little of both: I think the roster is a little limited, but the fact that you can play as your favorite fighter in several different weight classes mostly balances that out. Plus, with download-a-fighter being included, I think this game’s roster will be massive once people start creating famous MMA fighters are putting them online for anybody and everybody to download.

Much like the UFC including the famous Madison Square Garden in their “UFC Undisputed” games, it’s recently been confirmed that EA Sports MMA will have the Cowboys Stadium as an in-game venue despite the fact that a major Mixed Martial Arts event has never been booked there. An online image has already surfaced, which you can view here. Even as a huge fan of UFC Undisputed 2009, I think Madison Square Garden was really under-played in both UFC 2009 and 2010. Not so with Cowboys Stadium- the images revealed so far look downright amazing. I may actually get goosebumps when my Create-a-Fighter either defends or tries to get at the Strikeforce Championship in that mega-arena.

The last time I was this excited for a sports game, my hopes met quite the rude awakening. So, even with all the hype I’m buying into, I know that there’s still a chance for EA Sports MMA to let me down in much the same way that UFC Undisputed 2010 let me down. But until that day, I have to say…this is shaping up to be a genre-defining game. Every time I hear something new about this game, it’s something I think I could find myself enjoying immensely. When October 19 hits, I’ve got a pretty good feeling that there’s going to be a new Undisputed Champion of Mixed Martial Arts video games.

But what about you, fans and friends? How high would you rate your anticipation of “EA Sports MMA”?

Similar to the high kick, we’re now beginning to realize that old ideology may have been wrong.

To watch former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le fight is to see just how effective unorthodox kicks can be.  The guy lands sidekicks (hardly ever used in MMA) and spinning kicks like they’re going out of style.  Heck, in his last fight against Scott Smith, it was a spinning kick that actually sent Smith to the canvas, serving as the beginning of his demise.

Le’s unorthodox and highly effective leg strikes prove one thing…When you’re really good at spinning back kicks, sidekicks, and the like, you can use them on an MMA stage.  In fact, you can use them anywhere.

Though Le may be the most obvious fighter to look at when it comes to theatrical kicks in the sport, he’s not the only one.  UFC light heavyweight Jon Jones also lands unorthodox kicks in a lot of situations very effectively.  In fact, he just hit home with a nice spinning back kick in his win over Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC Live.  Dennis Siver has stopped two people in the UFC with spinning back kicks to date. Wednesday night at WEC 50, Anthony Pettis connected with a jumping front kick and some kind of kick with his right hand on the ground that most don’t even know what to call.  The thing looked like it was straight out of a Capoeira movie.  And if recent TUF contestant Jamie Yager could keep his wind beyond the early stages of a fight, people would be talking far and wide about all of the jumping kicks he’s been hitting home with as well (roundhouses, front kicks, etc.).

In the end, MMA is evolving.  What’s exciting is that fighters are using kicks these days that previously were deemed somewhat useless in the cage.  We’re finding that if you know when to use such leg strikes and understand how to truly employ them, they’re worth learning.  Besides, they’re a lot of fun to watch, and one of the names of the game in the cage is entertainment.

“I’m hoping to get a rematch with Scott Smith as soon as possible,” stated san shou champion Le. He added, “I’m training hard and I’m gonna be back in the cage real soon.”

Le was knocked out by Smith at 3:25 of the final round at Strikeforce in San Jose December 19.  He seemed to have won the first two rounds before letting his guard down and succombing to “Hands of Steel”.

Before the matchup, Le was stripped of his title for inactivity and Fighters.com second-ranked middleweight Jake Shields (24-4-1) won the vacated title in a decision over “Mayhem” Jason Miller (22-7) at Strikeforce in Chicago last November.

Though a Le-Smith rematch hasn’t been announced, since Strikeforce released the video, it seems like they’re fishing for fan reaction about a potential rematch.

“Hands of Steel” Scott Smith (16-6) took down Cung Le in the final round, winning by knock out. Is this the reason Cung is not an elite level mixed martial artist? No it is not. Today we see many of the top fighters lose fights they are supposed to win. Make no bones about it, Cung was supposed to win this fight. The sport uses four ounce gloves and with the striking prowess of many of the fighters, all it takes is one clear shot to end a night.

What I have seen in the past from Cung was his amazing ability to kick from angles that we usually do not see in the sport. His kicks do not make him an elite striker though. A top level striker may be a guy who uses very little kicks but seldom do you see a guy who uses few punches considered one of the best strikers. Cung’s lack of clean punches has always stood out to me. Last night was just another example of that. He seemed to be looking to hurt Scott with kicks. This is was a good strategy as he was winning the fight but a true elite striker would be able to mix punches with those kicks. He is obviously more comfortable kicking than punching and this is a glaring weakness in his game. Anderson Silva uses kicks similar to Cung Le yet he uses them to set up strong punches. This is what an elite striker does to get victories.

Cung Le rocked Scott a couple times in the fight and ended up going to the ground with him. Scott Smith is not a guy known for his ground game. He had trouble getting back to guard yet Cung was unable to do much. One thing that stood out last night was when Cung was in Scott Smith‘s guard and Smith was controlling his wrists. I would expect this control from a guy like Fedor but Scott, who is known as a power striker, should not have been able to control Le that easily. Anderson Silva would have been able to capitalize on such an opportunity. I never saw Cung try to pass once in the guard. He looked lost on the mat. This coupled with his awful take down attempts is another weakness in a man many said was at the top of the game.

Frank Shamrock (23-10-2) mentioned last night that in his fight with Cung he wanted to take him to the later rounds because he thought he gassed there. I noticed that in Cung’s fight with Sam Morgan (19-11) Cung looked to be tired going into the third round. Last night he was breathing out of his mouth after the first. If this was the first time I had seen him do that I would have considered it ring rust due to his long lay off pursuing a movie career. The problem is it was not the first time. Could this be attributed to the large number of kicks he throws in a fight? Cung might have better cardio if he combined his kicks and punches better so that he does not have to throw so mnay kicks. None the less, he was gassed and lack of cardio is not something we expect to see in an elite fighter.

Lack of proper cardio, focusing on kicks and not mixing in punches and his lack of a ground game all lead me to what I had always assumed. Cung Le is a one dimensional fighter that pleases the crowd with his unorthodoxed kicks but is far from an elite fighter the likes of Anderson Silva and Fedor.  It is time to put that talk to rest and just enjoy watching him fight knowing he is an elite martial artist but not a mixed martial artist.

Frank seems to be looking for an exciting stand up war which casual fans seems to thirst for today. I feel  the most exciting fights are ones where we see the actual definition of mixed martial arts. The continued rise of this sport and the very future of it depends upon fighters and promoters working to show what a true mixed martial artist is and not focusing on only one aspect of that,specifically the stand up wars.

I noticed that many times during a pay per view we get to see the knock out of the night even when it is not a main card fight. Seldom to we get to see the submission of the night when it is an under card fight. This is a travesty to the sport. We can’t continue to promote the sport, the fighters and the evolution of it while focusing on the stand up aspect and essentially ignoring the other aspects.

Promoters tout mixed martial arts as the combination of boxing, muay thai, kick boxing,wrestling and jiu jitsu. This is the evolution of the sport. We see fighters working hard to evolve into complete mixed martial artists. Guys like Fighters.com and UFC lightweight champion “The Prodigy” BJ Penn (12-4-1) and UFC welterweight champion “Rush” Georges St. Pierre (19-2). Yet it is the strikers that are getting the biggest headlines in the national media.

On ESPN’s website today we see former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le. A man highly touted yet has faced not one top tier middleweight. He is known for his striking and this gets him publicity. That and his new found movie career. I would much rather see fighters such as Strikeforce interim lightweight champion “El Nino” Gilbert Melendez (14-2) and “Cowboy” Donald Cerrone (9-2) get publicity. Both of these men train hard to become well rounded. Cowboy is known as a submission fighter but has worked hard recently to clean up his stand up. This is what the sport is all about.

Spike TV has done a great job of promoting mma but look at one of the shows they like to run, Ultimate Knock Outs. This is run over and over while Ultimate Submissions is a show I have never seen. We seem to be promoting the stand up and ignoring the ground game. It is an injustice to pander to the new fans who tune in to watch someone get knocked out using the four once gloves. I understand that many new fans want to see a knock out but it is our job to make sure we educate them and a show like Ultimate Submissions would do just that. When  watching the reruns of fights on Spike, instead of showing us a fight with great stand up I say show us a fight with great transitions. Maybe then we will see a fight go to the ground and not have to listen to fans boo even while one fighter is passing guard.

This education of fans is also a responsibility fighters must take seriously. Frank is dodging a fight because he feels it would not be exciting. It is the fighters job to work to be the best and in doing so one must take fights that put them against the best. Even if a fight may end up being a fight like we saw when Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields (24-4-1) took on “Mayhem” Jason Miller (22-7). The fight was a five round wrestling match with Jake doing very little striking and Mayhem unable to look for subs due to the great top control of Shields. There will be times when these things happen. Fighters seem to be more worried about how they look in the cage then if they win or lose. How many times do you see a fighter lose and then ask the crowd if they enjoyed the fight? Yes, promote yourself but let’s allow our sport to turn into a Jorge Gurgel (12-4)

Jorge is a black belt in jiu jitsu yet has decided to put all that aside to be an “exciting fighter” who focuses on stand up. This has led to him being cut from the UFC due to loses. Jorge may have the ability to be a top lightwieght fighter but it is his insistence on putting on a show that has been his downfall. Do not abandon one aspect of this amazing sport just to be exciting. Seasoned mma fans know and new fans will find out that the most exciting fights are the ones that transition from stand up, to wrestling , to jiu jitsu and then back to the feet. Fights such as Fighters.com ninth ranked light heavyweight “Axe Murder” Wanderlei Silva (15-1) versus Hidehiko Yoshida (9-6-1) or Fighters.com third ranked light heavyweight “Shogun” Mauricio Rua (18-4) versus fourth ranked heavyweight “Lil Nog” Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-5-1).

We can use knock outs to bring people new fans to the sport but without educating them ikn all aspects of the sport fighters like Frnak Shamrock will continue to refuse fights they don’t feel will be exciting and we could miss the next Shogun versus Lil Nog fight. There comes a time when one needs to shut up, step inside the cage and let his skills speak for themselves and the fans will surely be pleased.

Only two months ago Le vacated the middleweight title Fighters.com’s second-ranked middleweight Jake Shields (23-4-1) won Friday at M-1 Global/Strikeforce outside of Chicago.  Le’s Hollywood committments prevented him from defending the title since he won it in a TKO of Frank Shamrock (23-10-2) at Strikeforce in March 2008.

Smith was submitted in a rear naked choke by Nick Diaz (20-8) at Strikeforce in St. Louis June 6.

Former EliteXC middleweight champion “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (16-5), light heavyweight prospect “King Mo” Muhammed Lawal (4-0), middleweight “Jacare” Ronaldo Souza (8-2), and veteran middleweight “The Law” Matt Lindland’s (21-6) will all also fight in separate bouts on the card.

Belfort earned the title shot by upsetting ninth-ranked “Ace” Rich Franklin (26-5) in just over three minutes in a 195-pound catch weight bout at UFC 103 in Dallas September 19.  Due to the catch weight, the victory over Franklin doesn’t earn Belfort a ranking in Fighters.com’s middleweight top ten.

After former champ Cung Le (6-0) stepped aside to focus on another film role, second-ranked Jake Shields (23-4-1) will fight for the vacant Strikeforce 185-pound title versus “Mayhem” Jason Miller (22-5) in Chicago November 7.

Seventh-ranked Chael Sonnen (22-10-1) will fight “Thunder” Yushin Okami (23-4) on the untelevised undercard of UFC 104 in Los Angeles October 24.  Fighters.com thinks it’s outrageous to relegate this battle of contenders to the untelevised undercard.

Tenth-ranked “Sexyama” Yoshihiro Akiyama (14-2) is rumored to follow-up his victorious UFC debut versus “The Talent” Alan Belcher (14-6) at UFC 100 in Las Vegas July 11 versus tenth-ranked light heavyweight “Axe Murderer” Wanderlei Silva (33-10-1) at UFC 108.  Silva will be debuting at middleweight.

Third-ranked “Hollywood” Dan Henderson (24-7) is a free agent and in negotiations to return to the UFC, but Hendo’ told Sherdog negotiations aren’t going well.

Fourth-ranked “Great” Nate Marquardt (29-8-2) and Hendo’ will probably fight for the next UFC title shot if Henderson and the UFC can agree to a contract soon.

Fifth-ranked “Dreamcatcher” Gegard Mousasi (22-2-1) has stated he won’t return to the middleweight division and now holds the Strikeforce light heavyweight title; but, Fighters.com has met Mousasi and he’s a small 205er.  If Mousasi decides to compete at the top of the 205-pound division, he’ll be at a severe disadvantage.

Sixth-ranked Demian Maia (10-1) will look to rebound soon from his first-round KO loss to Marquardt at UFC 102 in Portland August 30.

Eighth-ranked Dan Miller (11-2) is recovering from an injury which kept him from fighting “Doberman” CB Dollaway (8-2) at UFC Fight Night 19 in Oklahoma City September 19.

Franklin is in limbo after losing to Belfort and continues to contemplate his future at 185- and 205-pounds.

Fighters.com October Middleweight Rankings

1. “Spider” Anderson Silva (25-4)

2. Jake Shields (23-4-1)

3. “Hollywood” Dan Henderson (24-7)

4. “Great” Nate Marquardt (29-8-2)

5. “Dreamcatcher” Gegard Mousasi (22-2-1)

6. Demian Maia (10-1)

7. Chael Sonnen (22-10-1)

8. Dan Miller (11-2)

9. “Ace” Rich Franklin (26-5)

10. “Sexyama” Yoshihiro Akiyama (14-2)

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker confirmed Le would vacate his title to MMA Weekly Thursday night and Jake Shields (23-4-1) and “Mayhem” Jason Miller (22-5) will contend for the vacated title at Strikeforce on CBS November 7.

Shields told Fighters.com Friday afternoon, “Well, I think I’m fighting [Miller].  I’m sure that doesn’t help you, but as far as I know it’s on.  I’m planning on fighting him and [Miller] said he is fighting me on his Twitter.”

Coker was more definitive to MMA Weekly than either Le or Shields, “I had a conversation with Cung and he has a lot of respect for Jake and Jason, and he’s got another movie coming up, so he’s asked me if he could step down, which we’re going to honor his request.  By no means does that mean he’s going to be retired, but he’s going to be unavailable for the next two months.  Now that he’s not going to be our title holder, we’ll put him in some big super fights and continue his MMA career, but not have the pressure of defending his belt when he has movie opportunities.”

But, it hasn’t seemed like Le has felt pressure to defend his title since he hasn’t fought since winning the strap in three-round TKO over Frank Shamrock (23-10-2) in San Jose in March 2008.

Fighters.com isn’t sure which details are yet to be worked out since Coker has already made his announcements and multiple sources are reporting the Shields versus Miller fight will go on in Chicago.

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”.

Known as the “Pitbull”, Arlovski has long been a defender of man’s best friend. His own best friend’s name is Maximus.

You can RSVP for the event, which will be from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM, at:

http://www.arlovski.com/events/knock-out-dog-fighting-charity

On 22 August at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, the former soldier known as “Captain America”, Couture, will host a Texas Hold-Em poker tournament to benefit his charity, the Xtreme Couture G.I. Foundation. Fighters.com has supported Couture’s foundation by the Xtreme Couture Operation Freedom 5k Run in May 2008.

You can play with Couture, “Hollywood” Dan Henderson (25-7), “American Psycho” Stephan Bonnar (11-6), and “Twinkle Toes” Frank Trigg (19-6) in Couture’s poker tournament. More information is available at:

http://www.xtremecouturegifoundation.org

Fighter.com’s friend

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.

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.

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!

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).

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.