Was Cung Le ever respected in these forums or was he viewed like Sage Northcutt?

[Haj01]

Cung Le vs Shamrock personified mma. That was a fight of legends. Just one of the best presentations of mma ever! Cung Le one of the coolest fighters ever man. Very underrated.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

Cung Le was a badass and very entertaining.

 

[JustforBROCK]

Cung was legit but one of the best fighters ever? That's reaching like crazy. Yeah he was old when he got into MMA but we can't rate fighters on "what ifs". Aside from Franklin his only quality wins were an old Frank Shamrock and Scott Smith, and calling these wins quality is already being generous especially when Scott Smith knocked him out the first time (admittedly in come from behind-fashion)

Lol are you fucking retarded? I'm not eating him off what ifs you fucking goober haha. Fighter doesn't mean MMA fighter or UFC fighter, dweeb.

 

[Tweak896]

Cung Le had tons of respect, especially after beating Frank Shamrock. He just came to the UFC too late, then lost his debut. Somehow the guy managed to pop for PEDs before USADA came in and retired after the test. I think people read him exactly where he placed, not that he did much in mma.

 

[HP_Nut]

Le came into UFC way too late but still fought & beat some high quality names, so he's legit. Sage just had the looks that a lot of gay Sherdoggers liked, he never beat any high quality fighters in the UFC. The 2 are not comparable. If Le got into UFC when he was in his prime, its possible he may have become UFC champ (I don't think he's ever beating Anderson but back when Franklin was UFC MW champ, its possible Le could've been UFC champ as the division was very wide open)

 

[Mask Of Winters]

Are you going to hold steroids against him but not Jones?

Find one post by me where I defended Jones's steroid use. I'll wait.

I just don't carry on about it because at this point it's a dead horse whose carcass has been beaten to the point where it's dust now.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

Le came into UFC way too late but still fought & beat some high quality names, so he's legit. Sage just had the looks that a lot of gay Sherdoggers liked, he never beat any high quality fighters in the UFC. The 2 are not comparable. If Le got into UFC when he was in his prime, its possible he may have become UFC champ (I don't think he's ever beating Anderson but back when Franklin was UFC MW champ, its possible Le could've been UFC champ as the division was very wide open)

Cung Le has like no good wins, what makes you think he would be the UFC champion? Is your basis for him beating Franklin because he knocked Franklin out in his retirement fight?

Rich fought way tougher and stronger guys, and beat a lot of them too. Not really much reason to think Cung Le would beat him. Cung Le is also a lot smaller than Franklin.

Cung Le was pretty good but he was a showcase fighter. He hadn't done much to earn the right to think he was actually in conversation for best MW.

 

[Intermission]

Cung Le vs Shamrock personified mma. That was a fight of legends. Just one of the best presentations of mma ever! Cung Le one of the coolest fighters ever man. Very underrated.

You guys loved that he was flashy and effective?

 

[wolffanghameha]

When I was new to watching MMA and still thought Jackie Chan was what martial arts is, Cung Le was the closest to that king fu movie or dbz style fighting. Machida was next closest.

 

[swarrrm]

Cung was really fun to watch with a unique style. He got into the game later in life tho and by the time he got to the ufc he was nearly 40. Nothing like Sage.

 

[Haj01]

You guys loved that he was flashy and effective?

Yea man. Like traditional martial arts made effective. And if you ever saw some of his sanshou fights. Thing of beauty.

At a time when traditional martial arts was seen as "exposed" and not effective in a real fight.

At a time when all we saw was muay thai style kicks, your basic leg kicks and head kicks he was doing the spinning shit and all sorts. Just a cool fighter to watch.

Just look at this shit man.

 

[jsbx45]

I think he was respected. He wasn't around for long (in the UFC anyways). He sure fucked up Frank Shamrock.

 

[marvinparsons]

He has absolutely nothing in common with Sage aside from flashy striking.

 

[HP_Nut]

Cung Le has like no good wins, what makes you think he would be the UFC champion? Is your basis for him beating Franklin because he knocked Franklin out in his retirement fight?

Rich fought way tougher and stronger guys, and beat a lot of them too. Not really much reason to think Cung Le would beat him. Cung Le is also a lot smaller than Franklin.

Cung Le was pretty good but he was a showcase fighter. He hadn't done much to earn the right to think he was actually in conversation for best MW.

I never thought Le was in the conversation for best MW during his UFC run, I was talking about if he entered UFC much younger, he could've fought for & possibly beat Franklin way back then.

I said its possible, I didn't say its a certainty. I specifically pointed to the time where Franklin was champ as it was a weak era, Franklin's title defenses were literally against Quarry, Loiseau, & then he beat MacDonald after losing his belt to Anderson. I absolutely would favour prime Le over those 3 guys, the fact that they were fighting for the belt or in main events showed how weak the MW division was.

I also never claimed Le had a better career than Franklin. Yes, I do think a much younger Le could've fought for the UFC MW belt, anyone who thinks he couldn't possibly beat Quarry, Loiseau, & MacDonald is a funny guy. I think a much younger Le could've possibly beat Franklin during that time, I wouldn't rule it out at all. UFC MW division just wasn't very good/deep back then

 

[TheGreatA]

He was respected. His fights were fun.

Then there was that photo incident of him in the gym looking a bit too veiny,

Spoiler

followed by him popping up for banned stuff. He got away with it on a technicality, and got to fight Bisping, who caved his nose in.

Since he retired right after, I guess he didn't lose much respect overall, but as a fan, it kinda disappointed me.

Oh yes, the infamous "gym pump" pic. That was all people would talk about in the latter part of Cung Le's career.

 

[BarbellzNbacon]

Don't forget he helped Rumble Johnson with his striking

 

[TheBulletwithWings]

Cung Le was great and a lot of fun to watch. KO'd Franklin and went to war with Wanderlei. Also he destroyed Frank Shamrock when Frank looked good during his comeback. If we got him 5-6 years earlier because he was doing K1 and all that he might've been a legit contender. We got him late and he was splitting his time acting already by that point.

He also almost got KO’d by Frank shortly before breaking Franks arm with kicks.

 

[sjon22]

His Strikeforce/Elitexc run was a lot of fun. He did ok in the UFC, wish he was 15 years younger tho.

 

[froggyluv]

Wow had completely forgotten about the guy -great and exciting fighter -a legend

 

[Area809]

Yes, he was respected. No, he wasn't like Sage. Cung was a legitimately great sanshou fighter; that's where I first saw him.

He was old by the time he transitioned full-time to mma, but he still had a very good mma career.

Also, he was like 40 by the time he debuted in the UFC.