A movie finish for Cung Le’s Strikeforce return

Former Strikeforce middleweight champ-turned-action star Cung Le stepped into the cage at Strikeforce: Evolution on Saturday for the first time in 22 months and it was like he was still on a Hollywood movie set, throwing the kind of flashy kicks – spinning back kicks, in particular – that are usually reserved for the big screen.

Le had his fight with Scott Smith locked up by the third round with a truly dominating striking game that included knocking Smith down a couple of times with those crazy spinning kicks to the midsection, although each time Le showed his inability to finish fights on the ground – he looked awkward, out of his element as he dropped hammerfists on Smith’s granite skull. And give it up for Smith’s ability to absorb punishment. But with less than two minutes remaining in the headliner the scriptwriter gave it a true Rocky finish as Smith caught Le with a left hook that rocked him and he pounced, finishing him with a barrage of punches until ref “Big” John McCarthy stepped in.

The lightweight title unification bout was a Fight of the Year contender as interim champ Gilbert Melendez played rock ‘em sock em robots with champ Josh Thompson for five rounds. Fists were definitely flying. Afterward, Thompson was total class, made no excuses, said no excuses would be forthcoming, that Melendez was the better fighter all the way. Finally, a fighter gracious in defeat.

Jiu-jitsu guru Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza submitted Matt Lindland in the opening round of their middleweight bout while he also looked dominating on  his feet. Can’t wait to see Jacare try to sub Jason “Mayhem” Miller or Jake Shields. Meanwhile, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal opened the main card with a first-round knockout of Mike Whitehead in a heavyweight match-up.