CUNG LE
...ADX has had enlightened beginnings, working closely with Cung Le through the company’s beginnings. A stellar athlete and great human being, Cung was a perfect fit for the ADX ethos. Almost immediately after joining forces with Cung, he took the Mixed Martial Arts world by storm with a TKO of MMA legend, Frank Shamrock. At the same time, the Cung Le legend was growing as an up-and-coming action movie star. Cung stayed humble and worked hard at both crafts while maintaining a great family life in Milpitas California. Cung worked on films in Hong Kong with top directors, trained hard and fought on Strikeforce’s main card on numerous occassions. Most memorable his human highlight reel against Scott Smith in which he basically owned Scott until late in the 3rd round when Scott somehow managed to get close enough to land one of his devastating (even half dead!) bombs and rock Cung for the KO win. Cung returned to the octagon to face Scott again only with a different outcome. Somehow during this span of events, Cung le managed to film an entire feature film with Channing Tatum and Ben Foster called Pandorum. Channing Tatum and Cung have remained friends through the years and we even spot Channing rockin’ ADX shorts in the celebrity rags from time to time. All of this sounds very impressive about Cung Le but the truth is, if you know his back story, how he grew up and the odds that he defied, it seems just about expected.
Personal triumphs aside, here is an excerpt from Cung Le’s Martial Arts bio:
Most martial arts practitioners are either performers or fighters. Cung Le is one of the rare few who make his fights look like performances. While the majority of combat sports bouts can be brutal, harsh, and occasionally boring, Le’s freestyle full-contact fights look like something that could only be achieved with a fight choreographer and expert wire-work.
Instead of following the well-worn path of many fighters who specialized in kickboxing or wrestling, Le found his calling in the Chinese full-contact fighting arena. Known as “Sanshou”, Chinese rules full-contact allows for kicking and punching, but with the added excitement of high amplitude throws and takedowns. The action in a Sanshou match is constant, dynamic, and exciting, and it fit the Vietnamese-American wunderkind like a glove, giving his personality, athleticism, and spirit the perfect stage on which to shine.
Le’s signature techniques looked like a clip from a Hong Kong action flick. His high flying leg scissors takedowns embarrassed even the most seasoned veterans, his suplex throws rattled the brains of the sturdiest roughnecks, and his brilliant kick-punch combinations helped many an opponent get a close-up view of the canvas. While other fighters and promoters were trying in vain to garner any media attention they could, the cameras couldn’t get enough of Le, his electrifying moves, his down-to-earth personality, and his rugged good looks. He’s been on the cover of almost every martial arts magazine on earth, gracing the covers of Black Belt Magazine and Inside Kung-Fu Magazine numerous times.
Having conquered the Sanshou world in every conceivable manner – as an international medalist, an undefeated ESPN2 Strike Force professional fighter, and wildly successful US Sanshou Team coach – Le grew tired of the criticisms from the pundits who said he was “only” a Sanshou fighter and would never make it big in the mixed martial arts cage. In spite of his powerful KO and tap out victories at the World Shidokan Championships (the triathlon of martial arts where competitors must demonstrate superlative striking and grappling/submission skills) there were still those who loudly questioned whether the human highlight reel could make any such footage in the No-Holds-Barred cage matches.
