Cung Le

Cung Le (; born May 25, 1972) is an American actor, retired mixed martial artist, Sanshou fighter and kickboxer. He competed as a middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), holding a record of 2–2 with the organization. In kickboxing and sanshou, he is a former International Kickboxing Federation Light Heavyweight World Champion, having a professional kickboxing record of 17–0 before moving to mixed martial arts. He defeated Frank Shamrock to become the second Strikeforce Middleweight Champion before vacating the title to further pursue his acting career. Le is perhaps best known in mixed martial arts for competing in Strikeforce, holding a record of 7–1 with the organization before its demise. Background Cung Lê 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. Le's father stayed in Vietnam and was caught as a prisoner. After a few months in a refugee camp in the Philippines, Le ended up in San Jose, California, where early discrimination and bullying inspired him to learn Martial Arts. His mother enrolled him in Tae Kwon Do classes at the age of 10. Le began Wrestling competitively at age 14. After being inspired to box by Sylvester Stallone´s Rocky, Le graduated and earned All-American honors in Wrestling his junior year at San Jose High School. He went on to wrestle for West Valley College in Saratoga, California, and won the California Junior College State Championship in the 158 lb weight class in 1990 also earning junior college All-American honors. Le also is practiced in a variety of martial arts such as Judo, Karate, Muay Thai, Boxing, Kuntao and Sambo. He began doing in Sanshou (Sanda) around age of 21 because it complimented his Tae Kwon Do and Wrestling background. Le held a professional Kickboxing record of 17–0 and is a three-time world champion in Kickboxing. Sanshou and kickboxing career Le is undefeated in his Sanshou/kickboxing career (17–0). He has won three US Open International Martial Arts Championships (1994, 1995, 1996). In 1998 he won the Shidokan tournament championship. He has also won four US National Championships (Orlando, FL, 1994, Dallas, TX, 1995, Baltimore, MD, 1997). He earned three bronze medals in his amateur Sanshou world competition compiling an overall amateur record of 18–3. He has been a three-time captain of the United States teams that competed and was the U.S.