On March 29, Cung Le beat Frank Shamrock to win the Strikeforce middleweight championship in a high-profile fight that ended with a thrilling third round in which Le broke Shamrock's arm with a devastating kick. It was the kind of performance that had the potential to make Le into a mixed martial arts star.But six months later, Le still hasn't gotten back into the cage, and he won't any time soon. Strikeforce VP Mike Afromowitz told me today that Le will fight in 2009, but Strikeforce does not have a confirmed date or opponent yet.
The reason for the delay? Le is in Berlin now and for the next two months, shooting the upcoming film, Pandorum, with Dennis Quaid. According to IMDB, Pandorum is a sci-fi action flick about a pair of crew members aboard a spaceship who wake up with no knowledge of their mission or their identities.
I don't begrudge Le wanting to be a movie star, but it's disappointing that such an exciting fighter won't be fighting sooner. I sensed a lot of excitement for Le among MMA fans after the Shamrock fight, and I think it will be hard for that excitement not to dissipate while he sits out for a year or so.
Le is 36 years old, so it's not like he has all the time in the world for his MMA career to move forward. With the limited time he has, I'd much rather see Cung Le in the cage with Kazuo Misaki than on the screen with Dennis Quaid.
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