Among the sport's most feared as well as ferocious strikers welcomes a good intriguing, traditional martial arts stylists towards the big leagues. Wanderlei Silva versus. Cung Le captains the actual co-main slot tonight from UFC 139: Henderson versus. Rua.
 |
| UFC 139 Live |
Cung Le: part-time superstar, undefeated San Shou specialist, three-time bronze medalist within the Wushu World Championships, bearer of the novel's worth of kickboxing and striking credentials that's exhausting to read within its entirety, AAU Freestyle as well as Greco Roman national fumbling champion, California state senior high school wrestling All American, as well as whirling dervish of battle-proven methods that only seemed practical in poorly dubbed 70's Kung Fu cinema.
It will likely be eerie to behold what's basically a style versus. style match up at this time of MMA's highly developed state, and on its greatest and brightest stage as well.
Of course, Silva's career has had a nose-dive of past due, winning only two associated with his six UFC rounds and separated from consciousness in two of his losses. On the other hand, Le has been gallivanting around Hollywood training for that silver screen more compared to cage, has only competed three times within the last three years, equating to under one-fifth of Silva's considerable career, none of that was contested at the elite level.
That, in the nutshell, is the glamorized good and also the bare-bones bad, yet I'm probably getting excited about this clash more so than every other.
Gifs and analysis within the full entry.
SBN protection of UFC 139: Henderson versus. Rua
Shame on you if you cannot nostalgically visualize at least a half-dozen from the twenty-four vicious knockouts which "The Axe Murderer" has dealt through the years. Since the turn from the millennium, many of us happen to be utterly baffled how Wand might consistently defy logic and reason just by clobbering hapless foe following hapless foe.
It transpired like this: you'd been debating the following challenger's chances on the web the entire week in advance, reading the endless observations about how exactly exposed Wand ought to be to counter-punches from a much more "technical striker" and exactly how his slug-it-out punching certainly works, but "sure appears sloppy. "
The spark of palpable anticipation began using the signature rotation of azure leather-clad fists to unwind his wrists for a great old fashioned beatdown as the camera zoomed in for any close up of their bloodthirsty snarl.
Following which was unquestionably the most daunting and soul-chilling staredown within sports history.
The bell might ring, the Japanese audience would discrete a loud, collective gasp of exhilaration prior to going drop-dead silent, Wanderlei Silva would assume the shape of a raging, berserk, bald-headed typhoon, and any living creature inside the perimeter of his physical violence would just fall over and rest.
Blood, bandages, stretchers, air masks, and a genuine concern for that well being of the lifeless corpse about the canvas were not unusual. However, the sentimental glory of the bouquet of flowers but another quart-sized trophy within the champion's hands quickly enraptured all of us and we stood upward and cheered our tvs at four in the morning on the other hand of the earth.
Regrettably, most of the more recent fans were barely aware of such classic moments and also have only the inflated embellishments associated with pretentious bloggers.
Though his intentions as well as mentality are still a similar, Silva's high mileage is actually evident. A decade of eating punches within the ring and in extreme training has inevitably melted his chin, he's moving a action or two slower and also the critical internet analysis was actually prophetic and just evinced many years later on than anyone thought.
Right now, his BJJ black belt as well as wickedly technical Thai clinch may be amiss, as Wand deals with everything with wild privileges and lefts slung crudely through his waistline. Everyone knows damn well what Silva can do, and a transparent strategy combined with a unstable chin, a porous defense along with a puncher's chance do not really bode well against a good artistic striking purist having a battleship clinch game.
The very first thing that should jump out with this gif is the really pronounced and uncanny work Cung Le delivers the actual kick with.
Balance is much like your first true love -- it does not seem like that big of the deal until you shed it. Only then you may not understand how screwed you're without it.
The way Le maintains this type of strong foundation allows him to show on a dime, pack a lot of power into his strikes and become in the perfect placement to react, either offensively or even defensively.
His footwork is nonpareil and creates a confusing puzzle in order to predict. Though clearly a large fan of spinning leg techinques, Le constantly switches upward his attacks. He'll begin with the same advance as well as footwork but flash out another technique from a clean angle, then he'll change it out up again.
This ploy together with his highly unorthodox striking methods leaves no pattern to become detected when he's pushing the action. He's also an excellent counter-puncher and has -- care I say -- a Machida-esque degree of elusive movement. He has not tangled with top ledge opposition, but he'll complement Wand's primitive, caveman-like approach having a highly polished, world-class degree of stand up.
Further in order to his striking mystique, probably the most encouraging part of Cung Le's San Shou mastery may be the anomaly of its focus on takedowns.
In fact, the very first time I saw Cung The fight in San Shou he or she was tossing some poor fellow all over the ring with a collection of low singles as well as double-legs, hip tosses, as well as a flying scissors takedown permanently measure. His skills will always be well tailored to MMA, particularly when factoring in his fumbling background, so the question is whether he is able to pull it off from the big boys.
His lackadaisical schedule and long layoff may be significant enough to outweigh Wand's bodily decline and -- let us be real -- in the event that Scott Smith can capture him, Wand sure because hell can. Still, Cruz endured almost three complete rounds of punishment prior to he mounted the return knockout, and Wand is probably not able to replicate that one aspect.
I'm hanging my personal neck out here with regard to Cung Le, as much since it pains me to acknowledge. When he's on, his footwork alone wreaks havoc and he must have an innate grasp of selection of distance and the complex striking to obtain the openings.
