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Cung Le: World Class Fighter To Movie Hero

cung2
cung2

Selected Filmography:
2007: Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate Fighter
2009: Fighting
2009:
2010: Tekken
2012:
2012:
2012:

Stats:
Born: May 25, 1972
Height: 5 ft 10
Style: Kickboxing, Sanshou, Taekwondo, Wrestling

Contact Info:
Twitter: @Cungle185
Website: www.cungschallenge.com


is a fighting machine, anyone who steps in his way will feel the full force of his brutal back kick and many wont be getting up from it. I have always been impressed with his fighting ability and whenever he enters the octagon he always brings 100% to each fight, which makes him an exciting fighter to watch.

Early Life
Cung Le, a Vietnamese American, was born in Saigon, South Vietnam (now Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam). In 1975, three days before the Fall of Saigon, Cung Le and his mother Anne left Vietnam by helicopter under heavy gunfire. He ended up in San Jose, California where early discrimination and bullying inspired him to learn martial arts. His mother enrolled him in Taekwondo classes at the age of 10. Le has disciplines in a variety of martial arts like kuntao, and was undefeated as a professional kick-boxer with a record of 17 wins and 0 losses. He is a three time world champion in kickboxing and also coaches his own team.

Le began wrestling competitively at age 14 after being inspired by his all time favorite actor Sylvester Stallone in Rocky 1 and earned All-American Honors in his Junior year of High School. He went on to wrestle for West Valley College in Sara-toga, CA and won the California Junior College State Championship in the 158 lb weight class in 1990.

cung1
cung1

Cung was also the former International Kickboxing Federation light heavyweight Sanshou world champion, having a professional Sanshou record of 16-0 before moving to mixed martial arts (Le also held an undefeated kick-boxing record of 17-0). Today he still competes in the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), with his last victory being over Patrick Côté (17-7 before fighting Cung), by unanimous decision on July 7, 2012. One of his best wins was against MMA veteran Frank Shamrock in a fight co-promoted by Strike-force and EliteXC at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. Le won via TKO when Frank Shamrocks' right arm was broken after a series of kicks (ulna broken), making him the new Strike-force Middleweight champion.

But apart from his brilliant martial arts background, Cung has already starred in quiet a few movies, his first taste for movies came in 1997 for a indie film, with the movie “Sleight of Hand” and also appeared in the tv series “Walker, Texas Ranger” in 2001 in the episode titled “Legends”.

In 2007, Cung had the chance to appear with a movie legend, one of the greatest villains ever, Bolo yeung, in the movie Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate Fighter. Although a few years have passed, we still haven't seen any release for this movie, but a trailer was released years ago and the movie looks good. In 2009, Cung starred in a movie called “Bodyguards and Assassins”, taking one one of Hong Kong cinemas top guy's in . This fight was fast paced with Cung delivering great kicks and punches showing his strength and giving Donnie yen a tough time. If you have yet to see this movie, go and buy it, you wont be disappointed.

2012 seen the release of “Dragon Eyes”, a movie i could not wait for with Cung starring in the same movie as one of my idols Jean Claude Van Damme about a mysterious man who looks to unite two warring gangs against the lawmen who have been using them to advance their corrupt agenda. I enjoyed this movie, i thought the fights were well done, enjoyed the directing of it and seeing Cung in a leading role was great and he did a great job (A second movie is being lined up).

2012 as been a busy year for Cung with 2 new movies opening this year by the names of “The Grandmasters” with Tony leung and Zhang Ziyi and “The Man with the Iron Fists” with RZA, Russell Crowe and Lucy liu, action by Corey yuen. I am looking forward to both these movies and i know Cung will do a great job in each, if dragon Eyes 2 is to happen with Van Damme back once again, then the future in movies for Cung looks very promising. I asked Cung if he'd love to play the villain in a movie where all three dragons were to re-unite (Jackie Chan, Sammo hung and Yuen Biao), his answer was “I'd love to be in a movie with them guys”. i really hope one day this movie happens, it would be epic.

So what does the future hold for Cung? I don't think it's the last we will see of him in the octagon as im sure he will be back once again to give excitement to his fans around the world. Also as a i mentioned he as 2 new movies due out this year, which i am very excited about, with great casts, directors and action choreographers. Please take a look at some of Cungs past achievements within the martial arts.

Mixed martial arts record (So far): 8-2

Kickboxing record:17 wins (12 KOs), 0 losses

Championships and accomplishments

Amateur wrestling
California Community College Athletic Association
CCCAA State Championship (1990)
CCCAA All-State (1990)
West Valley College Wrestling Team Captain (1990, 1991)

Amateur Athletic Union
AAU Espior Freestyle National Championship (1989)
AAU Espior Greco-Roman National Championship (1989)

Kickboxing
International Kickboxing Federation
IKF Sanshou World Light Heavyweight Championship

International Sport Karate Association
ISKA Sanshou North American Light Heavyweight Sanshou Championship
ISKA Sanshou U.S. Light Heavyweight Championship
ISKA Sanshou U.S. Light Cruiserweight Championship

Ho Tet Tae Kwon Do
Ho Tet Tae Kwon Do Tournament 1994 Grand Champion

USA International World Championships
1996 Continuous Sparring Tae Kwon Do World Champion

World Wide Draka Federation
1998 Draka Tournament Winner

Shidokan Cup Bare-Knuckle Full Contact Karate

1998 Shidokan Cup U.S. Tournament Winner

World Wushu Championships

1999 WWC Sanshou Bronze Medalist
1997 WWC Sanshou Bronze Medalist
1995 WWC Sanshou Bronze Medalist

Black Belt Magazine
2007 Kung Fu Artist of the Year [24]

Mixed martial arts
Strikeforce
Strikeforce Middleweight Championship (One time)
Ultimate Fighting Championship
Fight of the Night (One time)
Inside MMA
2008 Fight of the Year Bazzie Award vs. Frank Shamrock on March 29

Submission grappling
Amateur Athletic Union
AAU Espior Sambo National Championship (1989)

Cung Le fight video

About the author

kingofkungfu

Hi my name is Justyn Hughes, I have been involved or watched martial art kung fu movies most my life. I started muay thai when i was around 4-5 years old for ten years. I became a fan of kung fu flicks after watching prodigal Son in the mid 90's and that blew me away. Some of my favorite stars are: Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, lam Ching Ying, Lau Kar Leung, Ti Lung, David Chiang, Chen Kuan Tai and many more.

King Of Kung Fu (Justyn Hughes)

Favorite movie: The prodigal Son

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