MMA

Cung Le crashes with a KO loss; “El Nino” crowned new champion

Posted By Marcos Villegas on the Dec 22 2009

San Jose, CA--Hollywood land has claimed another victim. Though Cung Le was not the first MMA fighter to make the switch from the cage to the silver screen, he certainly was the first to crash and burn on the big stage. Fans can only hope that Quinton “Rampage” Jackson does not suffer the same fate. Scott Smith though, has made come-from-behind wins a habit as of late. For the most part, Le had no signs of cage rust. Saturday night in Le’s hometown of San Jose at first seemed like everything was going according to plan. Le was pot shoting Smith with hard rights and spinning back kicks from all angles, knocking his opponent down many times. It almost proved to be a short night for Le, as he had Smith hurt badly with a movie type spinning back kick that knocked Smith to the canvas. Le tried to finish landing a volley of ground and pound shots but somehow Smith got through it. You might of mistaken Smith for the Terminator, as he kept coming back absorbing everything the undefeated Le had for him. Finally in the third round Le broke and Smith, knowing he had nothing to lose, went all out. Smith slipped a hook that Le never saw coming, it buckled Le down and Smith went into overdrive landing two more shots followed by a straight right that sent Le crashing down for the final time. With Smith on top, “Big” John McCarthy rushed in to save the former champion in what turned out to be a Hollywood type ending. Fitting for Le, but a well deserved victory for Scott Smith.

 

Melendez/Thomson battle for five grueling rounds

 

Gilbert Melendez avenged his loss to Josh Thomson for the Strikeforce lightweight title in what was clearly fight of the night and maybe a fight of the year candidate. When the smoke cleared Melendez was awarded the lightweight strap, with all three ringside judges’ approval (49-47, 49-46, 49-46). The five round contest saw Thomson choose a completely different strategy than his first fight with “El Nino.” He willingly engaged with Melendez in exchanges, many of which he came out short. Melendez turned the tide of the fight to his favor by being the first one to strike and the last to land, outpacing his opponent in strikes landed by almost five hundred total strikes. In the final round, Melendez landed a well timed right that knocked Thomson down. The champion transitioned into a body lock and was able to throw Melendez to the mat in the final minutes of their bout. He landed in mount position but was not able to capitalize as Melendez squirmed out of the position. With the final bell sounding, the crowd roared in appreciation of the fight all had just witnessed. “Josh is the toughest guy I’ve fought . . . maybe the toughest match I’ll ever have,” said Melendez after his victory. Thomson gave all praise and credit to Melendez who was the favorite coming into the match, “He was the better fighter and bigger man. I want to make sure that was clear.” Can anyone say Melendez/Thomson three? I sure hope so!   

       

Jacare lives up to his moniker as the Alligator

 

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Matt Lindland were both looking to put the results of their last fights behind them. The team quest fighter (Lindland) has had a storied career that can be seen as the old guard of MMA. While his opponent represented the new guard of MMA; Mix in the pressure of making successful bounce back wins in San Jose and you had a recipe of what was an intense and highly entertaining fight. The Brazilian, with a 10-2 record, was quick to impress in all facets of his MMA game. The fight between these two saw a lot of back and forth action. Jacare would push forward in spurts while Lindland would throw straight jabs to get his distance and timing right. A wild Jacare hook allowed Lindland to slip under and use his Greco-Roman skills to take the Brazilian down. Jacare in sly fashion almost slapped on an arm bar that would of surely stopped the fight. Somehow Lindland was able to position out but it led to Jacare getting him in an omaplata. Lindland proved to be resilient as with Jacare pounding away shots to his head countered the omoplata attempt with one of his own. Jacare soon broke out and stepped into the guard of Lindland and smoothly locked in an arm triangle. Lindland attempts to fight with 40 seconds on the clock but was forced to tap. Ronaldo Souza delivered an alligator tight grip to live up to his nickname of Jacare and come out with the submission win.

 

King Mo continues to impress

 

The loud talking, confident and often boisterous Muhamed Lawal, continued his reign with a dominating KO victory over Mike Whitehead in both his US and Strikeforce debut. Whitehead was game for the three minutes he had a chance to go head to head with the former NCAA collegiate wrestling champion. Taking a step up in competition, King Mo played the waiting game, landing with heavy counter strikes to the chin of the persistent Whitehead. Whitehead made a crucial mistake in what seemed like a good game plan; staying low and landing leg kicks and straight jabs. He allowed his left hand to stay dangerously low when landing those same kicks and King Mo capitalized with a powerful hook that sent whitehead crashing down. Whitehead could not recover as Mo landed shits from the top to put Whitehead to sleep at 3:08 of the first round.

 

In the undercard:

Alex Crispim def. A.J. Fonseca via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Justin Wilcox def. Daisuke Nakamura via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Antwain Britt def. Scott Lighty via TKO in R1 (5:00)