Franklin vs. Le winner pops for donuts & chocolate |
With a new movie ready for release, and another big name fight set for UFC 148 against Rich Franklin, Cung Le has a full plate. The San Jose native is gearing up for what should be another stellar outing in the octagon. His last bout didn't net a win for him in the record books, but the stand-up war he presented to Wanderlei Silva proved Le is more than willing to do what's necessary to provide an exciting fight, which is a win in the books of many fans, both hardcore and casual. In a recent interview, Cung discussed his upcoming meeting with Rich Franklin.
Stephie Daniels: What's the overall feeling about your next fight being announced against another big name veteran in Rich Franklin?
Cung Le: I'm honored to be fighting a former UFC champion. I'm very excited to get back in the octagon and fight my heart out. It's probably going to be a barn burner. We're both going to be in really good shape. He's coming off a long layoff, and he's cutting down. Cutting weight is no fun. I recently read somewhere that he has a sweet tooth, and I also have one. I think his is for donuts or something, and mine is for chocolate. When we step in the cage, and it's all said and done, maybe the winner can spring for either chocolate or donuts.
SD: What are your thoughts on your last fight with Wanderlei Silva?
CL: Wanderlei came in with a great gameplan. Watching all of his fights, he always come forward. For him to get on his bicycle and backpedal, you know, have me come towards him, definitely threw me off. Having me take the fight to him threw me off, because my whole camp, from beginning to end, was having people come at me. I'm usually pretty good at chasing people down, but I didn't train that at all. I was on the defense...it was a good gameplan for him. I've got to take my hat off to him and his camp for coming up with a solid gameplan. My trainer, Javier Mendez, got on me a lot, because when I had Wanderlei hurt, instead of staying on him with punches, because I was already right there, I stepped back and started throwing wheel kicks, trying to look for that spectacular knockout, and it didn't work out. My trainer told me that was dumb on my part, but, you live and learn. It's in the past, and I've accepted the loss. I was honored to have fought Wanderlei. Now, it's time for me to move forward and get ready to throw down with Rich Franklin.
SD: Your nose was quite a mess immediately following the Silva fight, yet your recent photos show very little to no residual damage. What type surgery did you have to repair it, and did you have to have more than one?
CL: I didn't even have the surgery until two weeks later. The nose break wasn't actually that bad. The cardinal rule is when you get your nose broke, you don't blow your nose, but when I was walking back to my corner, I blew my nose to get all that crap out. Of course it blew up, so it might have looked really bad at the time, but it wasn't that bad. Don't get me wrong, it was broken, and I had surgery to fix it. Funny thing, Asians already have flat noses, so with this being my third surgery...I'm just glad my doctor was really good. He's gotten it a lot straighter than the other two times.
Listen to entire interview...
Read entire article...
