Strikeforce: Cung Le TKOs Scott Smith

By Michael David Smith - Lead Blogger

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<! mediaid=3121893 Jeff Chiu, AP: img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" align="right" src="" alt="" />Cung Le got his revenge on Scott Smith Saturday night at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum, effectively using his unorthodox striking to hurt Smith and finally finishing the fight in the second round with a kick to the body and punches on the ground.

"I fought smart, let him come in, and he came into the power and he got caught," Le said afterward. "Last time was his night, this time was my night."

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Smith went after it immediately at the opening bell, trying to close the distance to avoid those kicks that hurt him the first time they fought. It worked briefly, but it didn't take long for Le to figure out Smith's timing and start to land punches. Midway through the round Smith went for a takedown and Le sprawled, and Le controlled Smith in the north-south position and landed punches for most of the rest of the round.

Le landed a combination of punches early in the second round and then knocked Smith down with a back kick to the gut, although once he got Smith down he didn't really seem to know what to do with him, landing a few strikes on the ground before getting back up.But while Le doesn't have much of a game on the ground, he can do a lot on his feet, and that's what he showed: Le delivered a hard kick to Smith's ribs that knocked Smith to the ground, then he pounced, landed a few punches on the ground and ended it.

Le, who improved to 7-1 with the victory, was avenging his only loss -- Smith beat him in a thrilling fight in December. He said after the fight that he'd be open to a third bout with Smith, who fell to 17-7. A rubber match might make sense for Strikeforce in the future, but for now, Le showed that he's the better fighter.

Read More: Cung Le (MMA), Scott Smith (MMA)

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