‘Hands of Steel’ Smith Delivers Stunning Defeat to Cung Le in Strikeforce: Evolution

Share on Facebook posted 12-20-09 by John George

Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith (17-6-0) won a stunning, come-from-behind victory, dealing Cung Le (6-1-0) his first loss as a professional fighter last night in a truly bizarre turn of events during Strikeforce: Evolution middleweight bout, broadcast on Showtime.

Smith has a track record of coming back to win fights after being beat up, but this fight was something else. Le literally put on a kickboxing clinic for two and a half rounds, using Smith as a punching bag to practice various exotic kicks. Le totally dominated Smith, keeping him off balance and knocking him down repeatedly.

The fight was almost stopped early in the first round. Le connected to Smith’s jaw with wheel kick that put him on the ground, and then he managed to pin Smith down and to deliver a series of hammerfists to the side of his head. He also snuck in some punches to Smith’s face.

This was a pivotal moment in the fight. Referee “Big” John McCarthy had begun warning Smith to defend himself, a precursor to calling a technical knockout and stopping the fight. Smith, however, managed to work his way back up to his feet and escape.

By all rights, Smith should not have survived. That he did manage to get away showcases a real hole in Le’s game, which he’ll have to fix if he’s to compete at the highest levels in mixed martial arts. Le was in a perfect position to finish the fight, and he was unable to do it. His punches from the top position were very precise, but they didn’t do any real damage.

Le’s attack on the ground lacked the kind of ferocity needed to finish a fight. Instead of trying to be surgical with his strikes, he should have really opened up and thrown some big bombs. Even if only two or three got through, power shots would have been enough to finish a fight in that position.

Le didn’t look very bad on the ground, but he did seem stiff and somewhat uncomfortable. He certainly didn’t look great. When he got Smith to the ground again in the second round and found himself in his guard, Le seemed confused as to what he should do. Smith was able to hold on to his wrists for what seemed like a good long while, and Le got warned by McCarthy not to use his thumbs against Smith’s windpipe when he wrapped his hands around his throat in a choke. McCarthy eventually stood the two up.

In the third round, Le seemed a little slower and a little tired, but he was still able to evade Smiths strikes while landing his own. For a while, at least. With about a minute and a half left, Smith caught Le with a short left hook dropped him. He scrambled back up, but Smith was all over him, landing shot after shot. When Le fell to the mat, Smith followed and pounded him until McCarthy called the fight.

The kind of ferocity and killer instinct Smith showed at the end of the fight is what Le needed at the beginning, when he had Smith down. Le should learn from this fight and work to improve his game. He’ll need to work on his ground-and-pound by improving his wrestling and ground striking skills. He should also make sure he’s got good enough jiu jitsu to survive in case he ever finds himself rolling with good submission grappler.

As for Smith, he’ll need to learn to win without getting beat up first. He’s proved once again that he’s a very tough guy, but he’s also very lucky. And luck always runs out. He was very lucky Le wasn’t able to finish him in that first round. He was also very lucky to be able to catch Le at the end of the fight. Le could have just danced away for the last two minutes of the fight and easily won on points.

Both fighters showed respect for each other after the fight, and I was particularly impressed with the way Le handled the disappointment of his first loss. I look forward to seeing them both fight again, and I hope they both learn and improve as a result of their experiences from last night.

Melendez vs. Thompson

Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez (17-2-0) and Josh “The Punk” Thomson (16-3-0) fought a tremendous five-round battle for the unified Strikeforce lightweight championship. This fight would have been the headlining bout, were it not for Le’s star power that put his own fight at the top of the card.

Melendez won a unanimous decision, after a fight filled with flurries of punches. Thomson won the first round, but Melendez came out ahead on the cards in most of the others to earn the victory. He was just a little more accurate with his punches and just a little faster.

Round two was a real classic, with both fighters giving it their all and swinging with all their might. It was real fun to watch, and you could see from their faces, that the fighters themselves were having a blast in there. In fact, even as he began falling behind, Thomson’s face was beaming with joy at the start of each round. You can tell that guy just loves to fight.

This was a rematch for the two fighters. Thomson, who hadn’t lost a fight since March 2006, won the first fight by unanimous decision in June 2008. He had a leg injury this year that may have thrown him off a bit during this fight. I can’t wait to see these two go at it again in the rubber match. Hopefully Thomson’s leg will be in better shape than it was last night, and hopefully we’ll have an even better fight, hard as that may be to envision.

Other Fights

Three other fights ended in the first round. Brazilian fighter Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (11-2-0) submitted Matt “The Law” Lindland (21-7-0) by arm-triangle choke with less than a minute to go in their middleweight match-up. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal (6-0-0) knocked out veteran fighter Mike “Iron” Whitehead (24-7-0) with about two minutes to go in their heavyweight fight. Antwain “The Juggernaut” Britt (10-3-0) pounded out Scott Lightly (5-1-0) for a doctor’s stoppage at the end of the first round of their light heavyweight fight.

The other two fights ended up in decisions. Justin “The Silverback” Wilcox (8-30-0) won a unanimous decision over Daisuke Nakamura (20-12-0) in their lightweight fight. Finally, Alexander Crispim (4-2-0) defeated A.J. Fonseca in their 145-pound fight.