Cung Le hasn’t abandoned MMA for Hollywood. His upcoming fight against Wanderlei Silva at UFC 139 is his top priority, not what film roles he has lined up.
“The last time I came off a movie set was the end of February,” Le said at the UFC 139 media conference call, at which Bleacher Report was present.
“I got back and I took like a week or two off and was back in the gym every day training until now. Right now all the focus is on Wanderlei. Whatever movies are lined up, my manger is taking care of that, so I’m just focused on this fight right now. Then I’ll sit down with me team afterwards and see what’s going on.”
The fight against Silva is Le’s first fight in over a year; the last time the eclectic Sanshou fighter was in the cage, it was in a June 2010 Strikeforce bout against Scott Smith.
Le easily disposed of Smith, but wasn’t heard from for quite some time after the merger.
According to Le, that wasn’t his intention.
“Right after the last Scott Smith fight I wanted to fight right away,” he said. “But Strikeforce doesn’t have as many fights as the UFC so I got put on hold for a while. So I just jumped right into the movies and did three movies back to back. Then, the UFC ended up buying Strikeforce and I felt like this was my opportunity; I could fight for the UFC and it actually happened.”
Does this mean that if the UFC hadn’t purchased Strikeforce that Le would’ve been done in MMA?
That question can’t be answered for sure since even Le himself doesn’t know.
“It’s really hard to answer that question because I’m a fighter first before I’m an actor.”
“If this fight wouldn’t have happened, it could’ve went either way. I could’ve just maybe hung up the gloves and focused more on the movie career…Scott and I, we’re pretty good friends, so I figured I’d end my career with Scott Coker and Strikeforce. But when the UFC bought [Strikeforce], I was excited and there was more of an opportunity for me to fight for the UFC, and then it happened!”
Le may be friends with Coker and be grateful to Strikeforce, but he knows how much the UFC means to a fighter.
“The UFC is the top of the food chain. It’s like going from the CFL to the NFL,” he said.
At UFC 139, Le will be fighting in his hometown of San Jose, Calif., which provides a sense of poetic justice since that’s where Le’s very first MMA fight took place.
The only down side? Moochers.
“All you’re old friends from high school, junior high, they’re definitely hitting you up for tickets for free.”
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