Cung Le A Master of Combat Sports

If you have never heard of Cung Le, it would have only been a matter of time before you did. Cung Le is a mixed martial artist and San Shou kickboxer who has been rising to the top in each new area of fighting that he takes on.

He was born in Saigon, the largest city in Vietnam, on May 25^th, 1973. When he was only 2 years old, he and his mom were able to escape Saigon just three days before the city was taken over by the communists. This only happened because his grandfather was able to secure a flight on a United States military plane because he worked for the government. They still had to wait 10 hours to be able to get onto the plane, and even then, they had to run outside to get to the plane which was a half-mile away. Anne Le, his mom, said "We had to run. It was windy and it was dark. You could see the two sides shooting. . . You could see where the bullets came out - the spark - and you didn't know if it was for you. And when we got on [the plane], they started shooting for us."

After arriving in America, Cung Le and his mother eventually ended up in San Jose, California. In high school, he really began to enjoy wrestling because of its physical contact and competitive spirit. He was named an All-American in wrestling for both his junior and senior year, as well as for two years in junior college. After that, he began studying various martial arts and began to quickly excel. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "Cung's first major tournament win came in 1994 at the U.S. San Shou Open, where he knocked out his first two opponents and won by decision in the finals despite breaking a hand in the first fight and his instep in the second. Over the next five years, the quiet, mild-mannered Le earned three bronze medals at the Wushu World Championship tournaments - Baltimore in 1995, Rome in 1997 and Hong Kong in 1999."

Cung Le has begun branching out into other areas of fighting. He decided to try his hand (and feet) at what is becoming one of the most popular sports in America, MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). Fighting in the Strikeforce Fighting Championship, he has remained undefeated in his MMA experience. In his first three MMA fights, he didn't even have to fight a second round, defeating all of his opponents in the first round. His first opponent, Mike Altman, was knocked out by Le at 3:51. After that he defeated Brian Warren by a myriad of fist strikes at 4:19. After that, in only 43 seconds, his fight against Jason Von Flue had to be stopped due to a major cut Le caused by his strikes. After that, he finally had to go to a second round, and even the third round but still eventually beating Tony "The Freak" Fryklund by a TKO.

This young Vietnamese-American fighter has been excelling at many different versions of combat sports, and will soon become a household name as he continues his current quest in mixed martial arts.