Cung Le Sanshous Frank Shamrock

by Gene Ching

March 10th, 2006 - Our publisher Gigi Oh and I were going to the first legal MMA event in California. Cung Le was fighting his first MMA bout and we were both very excited. I've met Cung several times. He comes by our office a lot. Of course, I knew of him before I worked here. He's been a pioneer in sanshou since its beginnings in America. For anyone in the San Francisco martial arts scene over the last decade and a half, Cung's rise was impossible to miss. Gigi has known Cung personally for much longer than me. She and her husband, Tiger Claw founder and CEO Thomas Oh, supported Cung back in the day, back when he was a young, unknown fighter. Cung has never forgotten that. He calls Gigi his "second mom" and always sends greetings to her on Mother's Day.

Cung's first MMA fight was at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, a short drive south from the office. Now, as many readers know, I do volunteer work for Rock Medicine, a division of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic that provides first aid at concerts and events. It's my karma work. Every martial artist needs karma work in their practice whether they are Buddhist or not. Charity is the greatest application of martial arts. I've volunteered for Rock Med for over two decades, so I remember when this arena first opened. I worked there for bands like the Stones, KISS and No Doubt, but ? truth be told ? I'm not sure when I was last there. It's not a venue I work that often. But I've been there enough times to know that security is always tight. When we arrived, we were dismayed to find that there were no passes left for us. There had been some kind of mix up. At almost any other venue in the Bay Area, I can usually get in on karmic credit. But for this non-music event at HP, things looked grim. Appraising the gatekeepers at the press door, I knew there was no way I was getting in without my name on a guest list. We made some cell calls but no one answered. We were abandoned.

Gigi, however, was a different matter. One of her greatest strengths is her honesty, and that always shows through, even with strangers. Obviously she wasn't a typical MMA fan. Nor did she look like a gate crasher or a scammer because she isn't one. She pleaded her case to the powers that be and eventually reached a sympathetic ear. Next thing I knew, we were in the house, on the floor, rocking some VIP laminates. I was rather impressed. Gigi got through that door like a Jedi Knight gets past Stormtroopers.

So when I heard Cung Le was fighting Frank Shamrock, I applied for a press pass right away. Gigi was in China, so I would be on my own and I made sure to go through all the proper channels to get in the door. Now I'm not a huge MMA fan. I enjoy it, but I seldom make too much of an effort to go to the fights. It's actually a lot of work to apply for a press pass, and even more to write up an article. It would be far more economical for me to just buy a ticket. But this fight was going to be huge for Cung and I felt I had to be there. The fight was a joint promotion between Elite XC and Strikeforce, and they had contracted a professional marketing group, Brener Zwikel & Associates, Inc., to handle press requests. BZA handles groups like the NFL and the USTA. Their participation is yet another indicator of how far MMA has come as a professional sport. All went smoothly accept for a small glitch when my confirmation email wound up in my spam folder and that was easily recovered. The level of professionalism from all three organizations was outstanding, again a testament to the progress of MMA today.

The Laminate Says Ringside
When I arrived, there was a big fat laminate with my name on it at the door, right alongside Kung Fu Tai Chi and the heading "Ringside." Ringside? Oh yeah. These are the perks. Life is good. I'll stray off topic here for just a moment to mention that I collect laminates. It's the fallout of working at concerts for twenty-plus years. My laminate collection helps me remember where I've been, and in chronological order, no less. I have hundreds of laminates from all sorts of concerts, plus a few from various martial arts events. It's a personal quirk of mine, no doubt because I'm a collector, but I have more respect for martial events that have laminates. Now for some reason, martial arts laminates are always really big. Concert laminates, even the "all access" ones, are generally the size of luggage tags, which is a convenient pocketsize standard of about 4" x 3.5". Martial arts laminates are almost cartoonish in size, like rapper bling. The one for Le versus Shamrock was almost as big as a paperback. And it's not just an MMA thing. I've noticed the same supersized lammys at other tournaments, including The First World Traditional Wushu Festival that was held at Shaolin Temple in China. What's up with that? Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. I love the fat lammys and treasure my few martial arts ones. And the Le versus Shamrock lammy will hold a very special place in my collection. It has to because it's so big. And it says "ringside" in big fat black and white letters.

They also gave us lanyards to go with our big fat laminates. That earns extra points, even thought I don't collect those. I have a ton of lanyards. I give away lanyards. If you meet me at a tournament, ask me, and I'll kick you down a KungFuMagazine.com lanyard, assuming I haven't given them all away already. The Elite XC/Strikeforce lanyard has become my new martial arts lanyard, the one I'll keep all my big fat martial arts laminates on.

But back to our story, BZA, Elite XC and Strikeforce are class operations when it comes to handling the press. They know how important it is to keep the press happy. It's a simple investment ? happy press means more press and more press is exactly what promotion is all about. A nice cafeteria-style spread of food and drinks was provided in a special "press only" room. There was a decent salad, a filling pasta dish, some meat selections, some serious desserts and plenty of soda and bottled water. They even had some sports TV going. I grabbed an extra water bottle, and returned later for another. The press room was a pleasant refuge for us to gather our thoughts, catch our breath and socialize. There were all sorts of odd press crews, a lot of website press people, and the usual poseurs you'd see at any major event. Everyone was excited. I was seated at a press table on the floor that was about thirty feet back from the cage ? not quite what I had in mind with a laminate that said "ringside," but real ringside is reserved for those with photo passes and I didn't apply for that kind of clearance. Still, I was very happy to be there. There was a press packet and a seat with my name and the magazine's name on it. These guys don't miss a trick. I squeezed in between several web reporters, who blogged it all as it happened.

Those web reporters are why I'm not going to bother to call the fight in this article. You, dear reader, have surely seen the fight already. If not, I'm sure you can find it on the web somewhere. Just go to the thread on our forum. Some of our more industrious members have already posted links. Such is the benefit of our modern era. The web grants instant access to MMA fights and you can make your own call. No, this article is about what you couldn't experience on the Showtime broadcast or some viral web vid link. You didn't eat in the press room. You didn't sit at the press table. And if you weren't there, you didn't hear the roar of the crowd. There's nothing like the experience of a live MMA match. It's great entertainment. This is about being there.

The Roar of the Crowd
The San Jose MMA audience is ethnically diverse, but mostly male. Black T-shirts bearing block letter statements like "dominate" are the dominant fashion. There are a lot of bald heads, all shaved smooth as a baby's bottom, but often unshaven about the face. That's another "what's up with that?" for me. I've shaved my head when I was at Shaolin Temple. It's a great low maintenance hair style. But if you're going to shave your head, why not shave the rest of your face too? Anyway, MMA fashion is macho but we'd expect no less. Among the female fans, the wannabe ring girls are amusing. By the way, that was the only real bummer about the press table ? we were on the opposite side of the house from the entrance ramp where the ring girls shimmied between bouts. I suppose that's just as well because we'd have been distracted from our reporting. On the whole, the crowd was friendly. There was clearly rivalry between fans, but it wasn't all agro, at least not in comparison to some other professional sporting events I've seen. It was playful, all in good fun.

Twenty-plus years of working concerts has got me into some high-volume environments. I've been in front of the speaker towers of the loudest heavy metal bands. I've been so close to pyrotechnic cannons that my hair has been singed. I'm been in the dancehalls of Jamaica where the sound systems are so intense that the jelly in your eyeballs vibrates. I love it loud. And there's nothing like the sound of a live fight. I don't care how high-end your home theater system is. You cannot reproduce a fraction of the decibels that resound at a major high-volume event. Since this fight was two local champs, it was dubbed the battle of San Jose and the crowd was screaming loud. Early promotions declared "There can be only one." Everyone took a side, just like you'd take sides at a football game. Which fighter had the louder crowd was a big pre-fight question. All through the undercard fights, when the big screen cut to shots of Le or Shamrock, the Pavilion filled with a mix of cheers and jeers, but it was hard to say which was louder.

When the Showtime broadcast began, it ratcheted up the energy levels tenfold. There were three undercard fights prior to the live broadcast. The last of the three ? the Ghosn versus Stewart fight ? went all three rounds and was very entertaining. People were excited, but when we were live on the air, there was a palpable leap in intensity. Knowing that some fifteen to seventeen million pairs of eyeballs were watching, wishing they were there, electrified the crowd to thunderous proportions.

Shamrock's supporters were far more organized. They donned bright red T-shirts, which stuck out like volcanoes erupting from that ocean of black shirts. They all bore Shamrock's stylized shamrock tattoo, and many wore Mardi Gras-style plastic shamrock necklaces (actually St. Patrick's Day necklaces although I doubt you earn them in the same manner as at Mardi Gras). An enterprising website printed up red placards that said "Spank Cung" along with their web address. These were being distributed by some scrambling guys and cute girls. The cute girls could get almost anyone to take the cards, even Cung fans. Such is the power of a cute girl. One of the reporters sitting next to me tried to figure out how to tear or fold it so it just said "Cung" but that wouldn't work. It was more about the red anyway. There were whole sections filled with red. Visually, that round went to Frank.

Cung's crowd only had small Vietnamese flags. It's hard to say if there were more of them. The flags, yellow with red stripes, were only visible when actively waved. Otherwise, they lay hidden in pockets or folded on laps. Clearly, Cung's fans weren't as experienced in the art of rooting for their fighter, at least not when it comes to what to wear and what to wave. But that changed as the fight got underway. If you had asked me before the fight, I'd have given the crowd to Shamrock, hands down. However, once the fight began, the deafening chant of "Cung Le! Cung Le!" rose up on several occasions. That was intense. There's nothing like the power of a chanting crowd. Once the fight got started, it was all about Cung.

What I Love About Live MMA
As a live spectator sport, MMA almost doesn't work. The cage actually inhibits the view. There are these large padded fence poles in the corners where fighters invariably get trapped, and there's no way to see the action when that happens unless you're right at ringside ? real ringside ? or watching the big screens above. Another problem is that some fights end way too quickly. Two of the undercard fights went less than two minutes. A third fight, Kyle versus Cole which was televised on Showtime, ended in a 42-second arm bar. That's barely enough time to drink a beer. What's more, clinches are boring. The crowd will boo if the clinch gets too long. You can't really see the action. Again, you end up looking at the big screens, and for that, you might as well stay at home.

Boxing makes more sense as a live spectator sport, especially when you remember that it predates TV. Only a few decades ago, large auditoriums didn't have big screen TVs, so the action had to be more visible from afar. Turnbuckles and ropes don't obscure the vision as much. Although there's plenty of action in the footwork, most fans just watch the upper body stuff, and the ropes never get in the way. Also, there's no lull in the clinches. Clinches are separated. Boxing is about high impact punching. Everyone loves to see the big hits. The crowd oohs and ahhs and cheers every solid shot. Again, that reads better from afar. It's all about the big screen. Without the auditorium big screen TVs, I doubt MMA would have enjoyed the success it does now. In many ways, its rise is a product of modern technology.

What makes MMA work is the rush of the fight. There's simply nothing like it, nothing at all, especially when your fighter wins. Fights can turn around in an instant. Sure, 42 seconds isn't very long. Le versus Shamrock went three rounds of five, so it was only 15 minutes of total action. Compare that with football, tennis, baseball or golf. You have time to drink beers, go to the bathroom, and even eat a plate of nachos. MMA is different. For those short rounds you are completely captivated. You can't take your eyes off the fight for a second, or you might miss the deciding blow.

You can't reproduce that kind of excitement at home or in a bar or at a pay-per-view party. That's just an echo of the big boom, an aftershock, the fallout of a nuclear explosion. Those are still fun, but not nearly as fun as being there. I'll watch MMA on TV sometimes. I'll watch it on the web too. But I enjoy it the most live. If you've never been to a major live MMA fight, you should really make the effort. Every serious martial artist should do so, even those who don't support MMA, just to know what it's about. Critics often point out how violent and gladiatorial it is, and it is definitely a blood sport. Most fighters are cut in the first round. But consider Rome's Coliseum, one of the greatest architectural achievements of the first century. What motivates an ancient empire to invest so much to construct such a massive stage for gladiators? There's something quintessentially human there. You can get a sense of it through media filters like TV or the web. But you don't really feel it if you're not there in person. Go to a major live event before passing judgment. Treat yourself to the experience.

The Aftermath
Everyone was still in the post-show glow at the post-fight press conference. The satisfied buzz of seeing a good fight was crackling in every grin. There was one more fight, a walkout bout between Sims and Evangelista, something they bumped to after the broadcast because of the timing of aired live sports. By then, most of the auditorium had left. The Le versus Shamrock match had been so exciting that few had remained to watch this final bout. I watched a little of it, but then took my seat at the press conference.

Elite XC promoter Gary Shaw introduced the fighters and moderated the conference. He defended fighter Nick Diaz, who had been pulled from the card just two days before the fight by the California State Athletic Commission, which cited him for medical marijuana use. He also spoke about the network debut of live Elite XC MMA fights on CBS. Strikeforce is also debuting live MMA, but on NBC. According to Shaw, good pay-per-view pulls in half a million viewers, but network TV could garner over 100 million. A live network broadcast puts MMA alongside the NFL, PGA and all the other professional sports leagues. Personally, I used to be a big fan of boxing, but I stopped following it when it went to pay-per-view. It just wasn't worth the effort to me. Now I still watch it sometimes on late night Spanish TV, but frankly I don't even keep up with it on the web anymore. Live MMA on network TV is a clear turning point in the acceptance of MMA as a professional sport.

Cung came out elated and exhausted. His face was swollen from the pounding Frank had delivered. He confessed to craving pizza and chocolate chip cookies, along with the urge to break his self-imposed "hanky panky" abstinence that had been part of his training regimen. The Strikeforce Middleweight Champion belt was spectacular, yet obviously really heavy, and Cung struggled with it in his exhaustion.

With all the other press there, I had to insert some plug about sanshou. I just had to. I said at the start that I wouldn't call the fight, but I will say this. From what I saw, Cung defeated Frank using textbook sanshou techniques. I know I'm biased, but it was all about Cung's sanshou for me. I asked Cung how he felt about this being a "victory for sanshou as well," and he countered saying it was a "victory for all martial arts." It wasn't the plug I was hoping for, but another reporter asked a follow-up sanshou question, and then it was time for Cung to rest and recuperate. Anyone who went three rounds with Frank Shamrock deserves as much.

Epilogue
The morning after the fight, I gave an opening offering for a great doctor at a memorial held at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View. Dr. George "Skip" Gay was my friend and teacher, as well as the founder of Rock Medicine. It was his license that went on the line for the first show, Led Zeppelin and the Grateful Dead at Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco. I was exhausted from the fight, emotionally drained from the excitement. I was also nervous because it was the first time I was called upon to give memorial offerings. Many are called. Few are chosen. There would be many friends, family and colleagues in attendance, and the last thing I wanted to do was to let ol' Skip down. As I drove to Shoreline, I heard the memorial announced on KFOG, San Francisco's premiere radio station, and I got even more nervous. Shifting from the carnality of the night before to the spirituality of the following morning was brutal on my psyche. I remembered something Grandmaster Tu Jin-Sheng, the Iron Crotch master, once told me about contrast. For him, the focus of his practice was control. Tu considers the ability to be able to go from one extreme, like pulling a truck with his penis, to another, like playing the flute, as an example of true mastery. It is a path to happiness. I reflected on what kind of courage it must take for an athlete to step in the cage on live television. Compared to those Herculean tasks, centering a group of grieving friends for Skip's memorial seemed more surmountable.

With MMA's meteoric rise in popularity, it has become a standard against which all other martial arts are judged. That's unfortunate because the martial arts have so much more to offer than cage fighting. My personal practice gives me the strength to do all manner of things beyond getting an opponent to submit in a guillotine choke. It is my practice that built me a solid foundation where I stand before my peers and lead an offering for a great doctor like Skip. I will never practice MMA. That's not because I don't believe in it. It's just not my cup of tea. Nevertheless, MMA is a force to be reckoned with and anyone who disrespects it does us a great disservice.

On March 29th, 2008 inside the HP Pavilion, one of our greatest champions struck a blow for sanshou in MMA. It was a true moment of glory for Cung Le. Despite Cung's own humble statement, the Chinese martial arts will coattail on his victories. I was honored to bear witness to it. And I hope there is more to come, not just from Cung, but from others to follow.

	Discuss this article online
	Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le.

About Gene Ching:
For more, read Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Gracie ? Cung Le's MMA Debut in our July August issue of Kung Fu Tai Chi. For the pre-fight interview with Cung Le, read Cung Le Knows the Way to San Jose. It's through Frank Shamrock.