- SCOTT SMITH WELCOMES BACK CUNG LE IN DECEMBER
Saturday, November 07, 2009 - by Steven Marrocco - MMAWeekly.com
Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le will make his much anticipated return to the cage at the promotion’s year-end show “Evolution” on Dec. 19 in San Jose, Calif.
The heavy-handed Scott Smith, in his first appearance since a June submission loss to Nick Diaz at “Shields vs. Lawler,” will welcome the fighter/actor back to the cage.
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker confirmed the news exclusively to MMAWeekly.com Saturday afternoon. MMAJunkie initially reported the bout’s possibility.
In September, Le relinquished the middleweight belt citing a busy filming schedule as the reason he was unable to defend his title. He had not defended his title since last March when he defeated Frank Shamrock to win the belt.
The 37-year-old Vietnamese-born fighter recently had a starring role in the major motion picture "Pandorum" starring Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster and is due on screens this fall in the martial arts flick "Tekken."
Coker then told MMAWeekly.com that he would book the former champ when his filming obligations lessened.
Smith, 30, migrated to Strikeforce last September when his EliteXC contract was bought out by the San Jose promotion. The former union steel worker and UFC veteran defeated Terry Martin and Benji Radach before falling prey to Diaz.
At press time, it was unclear whether the Le/Smith bout would headline the December event.
- JACARE VS. LINDLAND, "KING MO" AT STRIKEFORCE (Thursday, November 05, 2009) Strikeforce on Dec. 19 heads to the HP Pavilion for "Evolution," featuring a middleweight bout between Matt Lindland and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and the debut of Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal...
- DREAM CHAMP ZAROMSKIS INKS STRIKEFORCE DEAL (Saturday, October 31, 2009) Strikeforce on Saturday announced it has signed Dream Welterweight Grand Prix champion Marius Zaromskis...
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