Le's victorious balancing act

In the second round of the main event of Friday night's Strikeforce event, Cung Le, who specializes in all sorts of spinning kicks, had his opponent on the ground and was working for a Kimura submission, when his corner men gave him a different message.

"My corner said let him up," said Le, the biggest local drawing card on the current U.S. mixed martial arts scene. "If I'd have gotten a submission, I'd have to do two back flips (in his post match celebration). I barely got one, so I'm glad I won with another KO."

Le used a kick to the body of Sam Morgan at 1:58 of the third round as the key blow to improve his record to 5-0 before 8,233 fans in his hometown of San Jose, at the HP Pavilion. Le said at times he didn't quite feel sharp, because as his role expanded in a movie called "Fighting," his six weeks of preparation was cut back to four. He didn't want to say he couldn't do more, because at 35, he knows the day is coming when he has to transition from fighting.

"I can't fight forever," he said. "I had a way to get into something I love to do and not get hit with hard punches."

And when Le got back, he was raising small children, who would wake him up four times every night. It wasn't until the last week when he had help in the house that he got five good nights of sleep.

But Le felt he answered critics both before and after the match. There were questions of what would happen if a Le fight ever went to the ground, and Le spent significant time in the first two rounds on the ground. He ended up always in dominant position, using his balance and takedown ability from wrestling, and even tried a few submissions. In fact, while Morgan would try and take him down, Le wound up with nine takedowns in the first two rounds as well as scoring three knockdowns in the fight, two with kicks to the body and a third with a right straight punch. The latter felt good, because while everyone acknowledges his feet as deadly weapons, he said some people think his hands are weak.

He visualized Morgan with the face of his ex-wife's divorce attorney, which gave him the motivation he needed in the latter stages of the fight when both men were tired.

But the other question, as to when Le will face elite competition, seemed to be answered after the fight. Frank Shamrock, who was doing the announcing on the live Yahoo! Sports web stream, came to the ring and Le spoke about wanting to face Shamrock, both for the competition and because it's about putting fans in the seats and entertaining the crowd.

Shamrock, acting a little as the subtle heel, said, "This house is only big enough for one of us," and accepted the challenge for a fight that is expected to be held in the summer or fall of next year, and then got in his final dig, in his role as an interviewer, when he said, "The winner of the main event, and San Jose's second best mixed martial arts fighter, Cung Le."

Le said Morgan, 19-9, was not his toughest opponent, but the most unorthodox.

"I knew he'd try to take me down, and I was expecting a lot of straight punches," he said. "But he threw a lot of looping rights."

Morgan caught Le with some good counter shots, and although he never came close to taking him down, he did get the majority of the fight on the ground, where Le has never been. Le was never in trouble, but his inexperience showed in spots. Even when he had dominant position, including once when Morgan's head was open and getting punched on the ground, his corner wanted him to stand up, since he was constantly beating Morgan to the punch.

The win gave the crowd something to cheer as local favorites Paul Buentello, Bobby Southworth and world kickboxing champion Brian Schwartz all went down to defeat.

The San Jose show also featured the first one-night tournament sanctioned in the state of California. It harkened back to the earliest days of UFC, and the glory days of Pride.

In the end, it was a strange night, with Jorge Santiago, now 16-7, scoring two fast knockouts on Sean Salmon and tournament favorite Trevor Prangley to win a championship belt.

The tournament was strange from the start. Earlier in the day, the California State Athletic Commission refused to clear Yuki Sasaki, who Santiago had picked as his opponent at the weigh-ins the day before, due to a medical condition spotted in an MRI. Santiago said he at first considered trying to fight Prangley, the toughest opponent first, but when the time came, he put his name next to Sasaki. When he got to the building, he found out Sasaki wasn't cleared, and that his new opponent would be Salmon, who is primarily a wrestler.

He figured Salmon, 14-5, would come in and shoot, so he met him with a flying knee that knocked Salmon out cold in :24. It turned out to be a scary scene as Salmon went into a seizure, and collapsed once trying to get up. He was rushed to the trauma unit at the local Valley Medical Center, where he recovered. A CT-scan showed no bleeding of the brain or problems with the skull.

Armando Garcia, the head of the commission, said the doctors would decide, but with the seizure after the knockout, he thought there was a chance Salmon's career would be over.

Even stranger was Prangley's first round match with Hawaiian star Falaniko Vitale. Vitale took the first round, largely with counter punches as Prangley was unable to take Vitale down. In the second round, Prangley came back with punches and knees as he pinned Vitale against the cage. Prangley scored with several knees and punches, and in an exchange, Vitale was poked in the eye. When the eye didn't recover immediately, the fight was stopped at 2:46.

The ruling was they would go to the cards, and the second round, barely halfway complete, would count equal to the first. Judges Doc Hamilton and Cecil Peoples gave the first round to Vitale and the abbreviated round to Prangley, which was the consensus view. Judge Dan Stell gave both rounds to Vitale. However, that meant the fight was a majority draw, even though Vitale's winning round was twice as long. Based on tournament rules in the event of a draw, it went to referee Marcos Rosales, who gave the match to Prangley.

Ken Pavia, Vitale's agent, said his fighter was fine and would have had no problem coming out for the second fight.

But in reality, the tournament winner was probably decided when Santiago won so quickly. Prangley took a lot of shots, was tired out and got a bloody nose in his first fight, while Santiago wasn't taxed or hurt. It looked from the start that Santiago came back far fresher, as Prangley stumbled after getting a low kick. Santiago then scored with a knee to the body, followed by a hard knee to the chin, which was the key blow, before getting two more blows on the ground before ref John Schorle called it at 2:31.

"I was training for six five minute rounds," said Santiago. "I didn't try to guess who I was going to fight. I didn't know anything about (Salmon), but that he was a wrestler. I saw him drop his head so I went for a flying knee."

Santiago was familiar with Prangley, now 17-5, as both had fought with the Bodog promotion.

"I knew I'd eventually meet him," he said about Prangley. "My game plan was don't let him stay close."

The promotion also crowned its first heavyweight champion in Dutch fighter Alistair "Demolition Man" Overeem. Overeem beat local favorite Paul "The Head Hunter" Buentello. Overeem, 26-11, dominated the match from start to finish, with punches, knees and takedown in the first round, which was scored 10-8. Buentello, 23-10, figured to have the edge the longer the scheduled five-round fight went, since Overeem is notorious for starting strong and if he doesn't win, gassing out. Buentello got some uppercuts in the second round, but Overeem continually took him down, and finished him after two hard knees to the body, the second of which put Buentello down, and he tapped out at 3:42.

A planned light heavyweight title fight in March for Bobby Southworth against Renato "Babalu" Sobral looks to be out the window, since Southworth, now 8-5, lost a non-title match to Anthony Ruiz, now 18-10.

Ruiz connected with four solid punches to the head in the second round, and took Southworth down. Southworth was bleeding from the left eyelid, and when checked, the doctor recommended to Rosales that the fight be stopped at :54 of the round.

Complete results: Middleweights - Dennis Hallman def. Jeremiah Metcalf in 1:39 of round one with a heel hook submission; Welterweights - Chris Drumm vs. Evan Esguerra was ruled a technical draw when Drumm couldn't continue after being fouled with a punch to the back of the head in 2:35 of round two; Lightweights - Alex Crispin def. Clint Colonel via unanimous decision after three rounds; Bantamweights - Anthony Figueroa def. Pete Sabala via split decision after three rounds; Welterweights - Eric Lawson def. Josh Neal in :20 of the second round via choke; Middleweight tournament first round - Jorge Santiago def. Sean Salmon via knockout with a flying knee in :24 of round one; Trevor Prangley def. Falaniko Vitale via referees decision after judges called it a technical draw when it was stopped in 2:46 of the second round when Vitale couldn't continue after being poked in the eye; Welterweights - Luke Stewart def. Byron Kamaka in :19 via ref stoppage after knees to the chin; Light heavyweights - Anthony Ruiz def. Bobby Southworth at :54 of the second round due to cuts; Welterweights - Lemont Davis def. Brian Schwartz via unanimous decision after three rounds; Strikeforce heavyweight championship: Alistair Overeem def. Paul Buentello in 3:42 of the second round when Buentello tapped after knees to the body; Middleweight tournament finals: Santiago def. Prangley via TKO in 2:31 of the first round after knees and punches; Middleweights - Cung Le def. Sam Morgan in 1:58 of the third round via TKO after a kick to the body

Dave Meltzer covers mixed martial arts for Yahoo! Sports. Send Dave a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.

Updated on Saturday, Nov 17, 2007 11:30 am, EST

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