Cung Le MMAMemories.com Exclusive Biofile Published by Scoop Malinowski Last Updated on March 8th, 2008

Options:  Print  Email  RSS

STATUS: 2007 Strikeforce Middleweight MMA champion and film actor who recently finished filming his latest action movie ‘Blizniy Boy’ co-starring David Carridine.

HT: 5-10 WT: 185

DOB: May 25, 1972 IN: Saigon, Vietnam

CHILDHOOD HERO: “Bruce Lee.”

HOBBIES/INTERESTS: “Gosh, I spend all my free time with my kids (Cung Michael, Anthony Ryan). And I train and go watch movies with my girl (Suzanne). (Also operates, coaches and teaches at Cung Le Martial Arts gym.) ”

NICKNAMES: “I don’t have nicknames.”

FAVORITE MOVIES: “Enter The Dragon and Casino Royale – the new 007.”

FAVORITE TV SHOWS: “ESPN [smiles]. (Any particular show?) Just the scores and highlights. Don’t have time for TV when there’s kids.”

MUSICAL TASTES: “A little bit of everything, except for country. (Name two names?) From 50 Cent to Linkin Park.”

FIRST JOB: “Working at Great America Park in Santa Clara – selling lemonade (age 16).”

FIRST CAR: “Was a Toyota Four-by-Four (dark blue).”

CURRENT CAR: “2004 Denali (black).”

FIRST FIGHTING MEMORY: “Got beat up in third grade. Got beat up by a bigger kid. (Fight over what?) He was calling me names.”

FAVORITE MEAL: “Vietnamese soup – Pho. And pizza.”

FAVORITE BREAKFAST CEREAL: “Don’t eat cereal.”

FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR: “Coffee.”

LAST BOOK READ: “Natural Cures.”

CHILDHOOD DREAM: “Movie star.”

PRE-FIGHT FEELING: “Just have fun. And butterflies come and go. (Do you look at the opponent upon entering ring?) No. No staredown.”

GREATEST SPORTS MOMENT: “Gosh, so many great moments. My last fight against Tony (Fryklund). (Why that one?) Just because of all the drama that happened before the fight. It was satisfying because of everything I had to endure. Very satisfying in the way I won and the way I performed.”

MOST PAINFUL MOMENT: “Of my career? Getting sick – with dysentery at the world championship in 1999 (in Hong Kong). From eating food that you’re not used to, because you’re in a different country. To being in the best shape of your life to being the sickest.”

WORST INJURY: “Broke my hand and broke my foot at the same time. My first full contact tournament in Mobile, Alabama in 1994.”

FAVORITE FIGHTERS TO WATCH: “Ernesto Hoost – in his prime. Gosh, so many. Randy Couture. BJ Penn.”

BEST FIGHT YOU’VE SEEN: “Probably Forrest and Bonnar, their first fight.”

FUNNY MEMORY: “Back in 1997 at the USAWKF nationals in Baltimore, I got to the finals, by all (first round) knockouts. Someone told me the guy I was supposed to fight in the finals wasn’t going to show up. So that night, I rarely drink, but that night I had like five glasses of wine. When I showed up to get my medal the next morning, they told me I had to fight. And I was still a little buzzed. And I could still smell the alcohol coming out of my pores. (Did you end up winning?) This one went all the way to the last thirty seconds in the second round before I put him away. I slammed him – double leg to slam.”

EMBARRASSING MEMORY: “I don’t remember.”

TOUGHEST MAN YOU FACED: “Arne Soldwedel. 1998 I fought him in Shidokan (in Chicago) for three rounds. He pretty much made me think of retiring the next day. That’s how much pain I was in. Eventually I knocked him out but I couldn’t bend my legs for six days. I walked with a limp for a week. Everything I threw at him he kept coming. And kinda smiled at me.”

LAST VACATION: “Puerto Vallarta, Mexico last year, August.”

PEOPLE QUALITIES MOST ADMIRED: “People who are hard workers with good hearts, and love themselves as much as they love others.”

FAVORITE QUOTATION: “USH – Unlimited strength and honor.”

WEBSITE: www.cungle.com