Cung Le always seems to be running on empty in the last round or so of his fights, I don't think his conditioning is "superhuman". He often gets tired. I've seen a couple matches of his where in the last couple minutes, he looked like he was done physically, and was just covering up getting peppered with strikes, and occasionally clinching (but not getting takedowns) to stall out for the end. Perhaps this was just a strategy, but it certainly seemed he was exhausted. My knowledge of his matches is in no way comprehensive, so perhaps this was an aberration.
Not to be mean, but Matt Hughes has picked up and thrown world class wrestlers, not the near clue less kickboxer that make up most of Cung's diet.
Cung Le seems to be a real good athlete with some skills, but he is by far the biggest fish in a pretty small and obscure pond, at least in the U.S.
cant disagree on most of your points.....it has been about 5 yrs since i trained with liu, and le's game may have easily suffered in that time-i know he had a lot going on even back then(media and whatnot)and was seeing less and less of liu. still, i believe he has all the tools-point of interest for those who dont know, le wrestled in college, and trained intensively with a russian wrestling coach as well(where he picked up that suplex). he's not unskilled on the ground. he very well may not be hungry like he was early on...but the bulk of his fights, especially early on, were dominant. but yes, mostly against muay thai and seidokaikan guys-no pushovers, but not wrestlers. i can remember him talking about retiring, at least from fighting, 3 or 4 yrs ago. he was under the radar for a long time before hitting k1 and the spotlight, so he may just be ready to pack it up now. dont want to start one of those "in his day" discussions, so ill stop there. either way, if you can find any of his k star or early fights take a look.
If you judge Cung Le based upon a few strike force cards you saw on ESPN you aren't getting the big picture
Cung fought in three world championships... ie against the best in the world... beat Russians, Iranians, Egyptians, etc... top dogs with good wrestling
In Hawaii in the 90's, Cung beat CHINA's national champion, ie the national champion of the country that started San Shou/San Da
Cung kicks extremely hard. I guess you can't appreciate that watching him on TV but you can ask anyone who has trained with him.
As far as conditining in recent fights, my guess is that he is coaching, doing movies, running two gyms, etc... he is not as conditioned as he was in past
These fantasy match ups are just so ridiculous. I do not think that Cung Le would even weant to venture in the ring with Hughes so why even imagine this? Its like saying what would it be like if BJ fought De La Hoya in a pure boxing match? Makes no sense right? Cmon trolls.
Hughes would slam Cung Le unconscious. I don't see Cung taking him down, and I don't see his strikes being something Hughes hasn't seen before. The only way Hughes would lose is if his slam is somehow deemed illegal.
If you've ever seen someone with decent greco wrestling and bjj in their background enter a judo tournament, and win, without having any judo knowledge, you'll understand how Hughes would win. While having no experience of the RULESET, he has enough elite experience with the required SKILLSET to compensate. He is a 5 or 6 time UFC champ so mixing strikes and takedowns is his bread and butter, case closed.
seriously. not even a question. matt coached me in college and i got two takedowns in two years. and only because i could put my knees to the ground. (can't in san shou) cung can't box, has descent kicks. matt would own him though. the short rounds would be great for him. he's just walk through him for three minutes and sit in his corner after getting his 7 takedowns.
Yeah, sure, anyone who thinks Hughes would beat Cung Le is a troll. Cung won't think that after he's thrown out of the ring. When it comes to takedowns, Hughes is on another level.
It's like when I took push hands tai chi I kicked the shit out of nationally ranked taichi guys. When something's a fringe sport it tends to lack the competitive base of a popular sport like wrestling, and therefore the cream rises to the top much quicker and more dramatically.
"and only because i could put my knees to the ground. (can't in san shou)"
You're wrong Brian. Actually you can put a knee on the mat in sanshou if the motion results in a clean score.
I can't help but find it ironic that you're knocking Cung, yet he beat you Soundly after his first fight after a major surgery/rehab (You were his "tune-up" fight.)
I was always taught to be humble in defeat. I'm sure you were too.
Straight up. Riggs is Hughes' worst nightmare stylistically and he got assraped. Hughes matches up very well with wrestlers because he's probably the best mma wrestler in the sport. This would EASILY carry over to SanShou.