<! mediaid=3121894 Jeff Chiu, AP: img hspace="4" vspace="4" border="1" align="right" alt="" src="" />SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The is the Strikeforce live blog for Cung Le vs. Scott Smith, a middleweight bout on tonight's Strikeforce and M-1 Global event from the HP Pavillion.
Le will look to avenge a painful loss to Smith last December when they meet for this rematch. Le was dominating their first encounter until a third-round knockout dealt him his first career loss.
The live blog is below.
Round 1: Smith gets after Le right away, closing the distance and forcing him into the fence. It's a partisan crowd for Le here tonight, but Smith had to be expecting that. The Vietnamese flags are out in force. Le deftly avoids a lunging punch from Smith and then tags him with a right. He's moving away from Smith's power and looking to counter, but Smith, true to his claims, is going after him and looking for the knockout. Le knocks Smith back up against the fence and Smith shoots in for a single-leg, but he's not even close to finishing it. Le softens up his body with some short punches. Smith works his way up to his feet and then nails Le with a hard hook. Le comes back with a head kick that's mostly blocked, then a two-punch combo that wobbles Smith. Smith looking for the single-leg again in the final seconds, but more as a respite from the stand-up game than legitimate strategy. MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9 for Le.
Round 2: They're right back to banging on each other in the second round, and Le unleashes another head kick that's mostly blocked, but still seems unpleasant. A spinning back kick to the gut drops Smith. Le follows him to the mat and picks his spots to punch, but Smith holds on and gets back to his feet. Another back kick to the stomach from Le and Smith is down again, clearly in a lot of pain. Le moves in carefully and lands several damaging blows. No answer from Smith, and that'll be it.
Cung Le def. Scott Smith via TKO (strikes) at 1:46 of round 2
.fanhouseButton {margin:2em 0;} .fanhouseButton a:link, .fanhouseButton a:visited, .fanhouseButton a:hover, .fanhouseButton a:active {background-color:#dd2829;color:#FFFFFF;font-size:18px;padding:0.3em 0.6em;text-decoration:none;} .fanhouseButton a:hover {background-color:#000000;}
Le will look to avenge a painful loss to Smith last December when they meet for this rematch. Le was dominating their first encounter until a third-round knockout dealt him his first career loss.
The live blog is below.
Round 1: Smith gets after Le right away, closing the distance and forcing him into the fence. It's a partisan crowd for Le here tonight, but Smith had to be expecting that. The Vietnamese flags are out in force. Le deftly avoids a lunging punch from Smith and then tags him with a right. He's moving away from Smith's power and looking to counter, but Smith, true to his claims, is going after him and looking for the knockout. Le knocks Smith back up against the fence and Smith shoots in for a single-leg, but he's not even close to finishing it. Le softens up his body with some short punches. Smith works his way up to his feet and then nails Le with a hard hook. Le comes back with a head kick that's mostly blocked, then a two-punch combo that wobbles Smith. Smith looking for the single-leg again in the final seconds, but more as a respite from the stand-up game than legitimate strategy. MMA Fighting scores the round 10-9 for Le.
Round 2: They're right back to banging on each other in the second round, and Le unleashes another head kick that's mostly blocked, but still seems unpleasant. A spinning back kick to the gut drops Smith. Le follows him to the mat and picks his spots to punch, but Smith holds on and gets back to his feet. Another back kick to the stomach from Le and Smith is down again, clearly in a lot of pain. Le moves in carefully and lands several damaging blows. No answer from Smith, and that'll be it.
Cung Le def. Scott Smith via TKO (strikes) at 1:46 of round 2
.fanhouseButton {margin:2em 0;} .fanhouseButton a:link, .fanhouseButton a:visited, .fanhouseButton a:hover, .fanhouseButton a:active {background-color:#dd2829;color:#FFFFFF;font-size:18px;padding:0.3em 0.6em;text-decoration:none;} .fanhouseButton a:hover {background-color:#000000;}