By Ryan “Big Mac” McKinnell

San Shou master Cung Le continues his rise up the MMA ranks this Saturday with a Strikeforce middleweight title bout against MMA legend Frank Shamrock. This is only Le’s sixth professional MMA bout but he is undefeated and has won every bout (all fought under the Strikeforce banner) by TKO.

Le talked to Fight Ticker by phone a couple of weeks ago as he was preparing for this bout. Here are highlights of that conversation, which spanned topics such as his upcoming title shot as well as his thoughts on Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson, and updates on his blossoming movie career.

Fight Ticker: How are you doing my man?

Cung Le: Everything’s going fine. Muscles are real tired, working really hard. Getting ready.

Fight Ticker: Of course you’ve had big matches in your martial arts background – K-1 and all the San Shou matches – but this is definitely your biggest test for your mixed martial arts adventure. And, it’s in your adopted hometown – your hometown of San Jose. And Frank [Shamrock]’s popular there. It has to be an exciting night. How do you feel about this fight coming up with Frank?

Le: I like my odds. I really like my odds. So, I feel great. It’s big to be stepping into the cage again [against] someone like Frank and the accomplishments that he’s done, all the fighters that he’s beat. I look forward to testing my skills with someone like him.

Fight Ticker: Now you bring up testing your skills. No one’s been able to test your ground skills whatsoever. They haven’t taken you down, not for lack of trying I’d suppose. But, Frank Shamrock is definitely a well-rounded fighter. How do you feel you’re going to match up with him if he does get you to the ground and what have you been doing to prepare for that?

Le: I just have to fight my fight. I’m not going to worry about what he’s going to do or what he’s going to attempt. I’m just going to let my reaction take over and go in there and do what I do best, which is my striking.

Fight Ticker: Definitely. You bring up your striking. I’ve watched you fight countless times. Each time you fight I just get this feeling that I’m watching something unreal happen in the cage and it’s that San Shou background and it’s the way you implement it in the cage. How are you so successful being one of the only people to bring such an exciting style into the cage? How do you pull it off? How do you succeed at being so exciting without giving up certain positions or exploiting yourself?

Le: During training, during practice if I get caught then I’m in that position so I’m able to be familiar with all the tools that I got and just execute it without any hesitation. I go in there and do my best and just have fun.

Fight Ticker: What do you think makes you so more successful than other people that may share the similar style that you do? Why do you think you can pull it off so well?

Le: I don’t know. I think I just owe it all to the Lord and his blessing me [with] that extra skill and the reaction and it just happens. I’m just so blessed I can’t explain it. I just go out there and do it.

Fight Ticker: Frank’s kind of been talking – he’s a talker. He sells a fight. He’s always been good at that. It seems with this fight though he’s definitely recognizing you as a solid opponent. But the talk – does that affect you one way or the other, get you riled up a little bit possibly or do you let it roll off your back?

Le: Over the years, with all the experience that I’ve got stepping into the ring or the lei tai in San Shou, with so many different opponents, that stuff doesn’t bother me anymore. Frank can talk all he wants. For me, I know it all lines down to what happens in the cage and who executes better and who has almost the luck of the draw of the night and who’s flowing and whose sharp and who’s on their game. It all comes down to that.

Fight Ticker: Frank’s a game opponent and I would never have you look past anyone. I know that as a fighter you can’t do that but you’re kind of late to the game – not late to the fighting game, but late to the mixed martial arts game. Let’s assume you beat Frank, ok? And there’s this whole wide world of opportunity out there. What do you see laying in the weeds for you? I’m not necessarily saying any fighters you might like to fight or organizations? But, would you like to maybe go for a belt in a bigger organization? Make that extra step? Are you happy where you’re at?

Le: Right now, I cannot look past Frank. I’m just excited that I’m fighting for a world title against a worthy opponent like Frank Shamrock. He’s the first middleweight UFC champion and I cannot look past him or underestimate him. Frank is complete, he’s pretty well-rounded. So, right now Frank is in the crosshairs – that’s it. I just gotta go in there and pull the trigger, get my shots off, and be accurate in everything that I do.

Fight Ticker: How many more fights do you have on your Strikeforce contract?

Le: I’ve got a six-fight deal with them. One thing good about Strikeforce [is that] Scott Coker is willing to work with any promoter… if it works good for both promoters or promotions. For me, yeah, I did get started late in the game but I already made a big splash and I couldn’t ask for anything more. Within two years – I started in 2006, March, and now its 2008 – and I’m fighting for a world title against Frank Shamrock. What can I ask for more? I started late but I’m definitely climbing up that ladder real quick.

Fight Ticker: How long do you see yourself fighting for in this game of mixed martial arts?

Le: I don’t know. I just take it one day at a time. I don’t look that far ahead because tomorrow’s not promised. It’s one day at a time, one fight at a time and that’s how I look at things.

Fight Ticker: Does your family come to your fights? Are they there supporting you or do they stay at home and watch on TV?

Le: My boys stay home. Pretty much everyone else comes and supports me.

Fight Ticker: How do you think you would stack up against a guy like Anderson Silva?

Le: Anderson Silva is probably pound-for-pound the best fighter out there. He goes in and everyone is scared to death of his stand-up game and now he’s such a threat on the ground. For me, it would be like an honor to step in and test my skills because when fighters go in there and they get hit, they’re like, “Oh man, that was a hard shot.” Pretty much my whole life in martial arts I’ve been up against some of the top strikers in Russia and China in the San Shou game. I don’t know how I’d match up until I step in the cage against him. So, I really can’t judge or anything. But, I really believe that Anderson Silva is pound-for-pound one of the dangerous fighters out there and that’s just for me, if I ever have the opportunity to fight him, I’ll definitely test my skills out.

Of course when you fight someone, anytime you step in the cage, you gotta know that you’re going to get hit. Don’t crumble. It’s like what happened to Dan Henderson – he got hit and his game plan completely changed. I’ve never seen Dan Henderson jump down so hard. [If] Dan Henderson had stuck to the game plan and not break under the pressure or under the power of Anderson Silva. And, I thought Anderson is really accurate and he turns his hips on kicks, he turns his hips on punches, and everything’s coming at such a high velocity so he has power too. At the same time, Dan had a great first round and he completely got out of his game plan. I don’t know what happened – he just kind of broke under the pressure.

I always tell my students that pressure fighters majority of the time have the edge on the fight. They go in, they know they are going to get hit, so they’re going to try to hit you first. And, they get to open up. Some fighters wait for the opening, [but] sometimes the opening never happens so you’ve got to just go in there and you’ve got to stick to your game plan, you’ve got to have confidence in your striking and your abilities and go in there and hope that the momentum swing is [on] your side. If you let the other fighter get that momentum going then you have to deal with twice the person that you’re up against. Because one the confidence gets going then they’re harder to break. But, if you’re in there and you’re mixing it up and you’re not fazed [by] their game – you’re in the thick of things – anything can happen. Random shit can change your way and you can keep the pressure on.

When you fight someone at such a high level I think it all just comes down to momentum and who’s willing to stick it out and willing to take a risk because that’s the name of the game – you gotta take risks. You’re stepping in the cage, you’re already taking a risk and you gotta be in range to hit the other person. If you’re in range to hit the other person, you’re in range to be hit. And, if you start losing confidence in your game then you’re fighting at 65% and you’re fighting them at 130% and that’s why I think Dan Henderson ended up looking the way he did. I’ve never seen Dan Henderson look so bad [as he did] in the second round. First round, I thought Dan Henderson did a great job.

Fight Ticker: What does the future have in store for Cung Le?

Le: March 29, watch the fight, see what the result is. At the end of the year, look for this movie called Fighting where I was in one of the probably best fight scenes against Channing Tatum. Another actor that’s a big name in there [is] Terence Howard, Academy Award nominee.

Fight Ticker: You’ve got a movie coming out with Terence Howard?

Le: Terence Howard and Channing Tatum, who was the star of the first Step Up and also he’s filming G.I. Joe right now and he’s the lead actor in G.I. Joe. And, I believe, once he’s finished there he’s going to go film in this movie called Public Enemy with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale.

Fight Ticker: What’s your role? What’s the story? Who’s directing it? What can we expect from it?

Le: I don’t want to give the story away but I’m a street fighter who’s a martial artist and my name in the movie is "Dragon Kim" or "Dragon Lee", I’m not sure because someone’s still living with that name. Right now, the studio is talking about how sick this fight scene is because we were banged up.

Channing Tatum, after the second night of shoot, he ended up in the hospital the next day because he saw double vision. I had to fly back. I had a massive headache and my back was… We slammed each other into a big old marble pillar. It was crazy.

The producer’s no small-time guy. His name is Kevin Misher. He produced The Scorpion King; he produced Walking Tall. He’s the guy who pushed the Rock in his early days starting out in the movies. He’s done $100 million films. I don’t know how the whole movie is going to turn out but I know our fight scene is going to be sick.

Fight Ticker: Is that something you’d like to get into in the future?

Le: Oh yeah. I’ve already got another film coming out – it’ll come out early next year – Tekken 6. Roger Huerta’s in it – he’s a character in Tekken 6 that they pulled out and then my character -- you should know it if you play it – I’m "Martial Law" in the movie…

It’s really exciting. You can also look me up on IMDB. Techen’s not on there yet but Fighting is and I’ve done a movie with David Carradine, Eric Roberts, Gary Busey, Cary Tagawa... and I was the lead in that movie. That won’t be in the theaters but it’ll be in the theaters in Russia but it’ll be probably DVD here. It’s still [in] editing because they have some with issues with sound…

I’m backed pretty much by a big company – they’re called Insomnia Media – and they’re doing movies with Robert De Niro, Woody Harrelson. They actually want to do a spinoff of Tekken the movie – they want to franchise Martial Law.

There’s all kinds of things happening. Like I said, one day at a time because tomorrow’s not promised.

(Photo of Cung Le (R) courtesy of Strikeforce.)