UFC on Fuel 6's Cung Le comments on "lucky punch," gameplan against Rich Franklin

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Following his knockout win over Rich Franklin on Saturday in Macau, China, Cung Le characterized his knockout blow as a "lucky punch." It was far from that, as he timed Franklin's kick and landed a huge right to the jaw, face planting the former UFC Middleweight Champion in the first round. In a new interview with Steph Daniels at BloodyElbow.com, Le said it was the emotions of the moment that led to his initial description of the strike.

"I just didn't know what to say at the moment," Le said. "I really like Rich as a person, and I was happy and sad at the same time during those moments immediately following the fight. I was also very concerned for him. I didn't know what to say, so that's what came out."

But he knows it wasn't a lucky strike, and he followed that comment up by describing what went into his gameplan heading into the fight.

"If you watch the fight carefully, I threw that same counter hook two times before the third one finally landed," Le said. "The gameplan that Scott Sheeley and I put together, we simulated all kinds of different patterns that Rich has. I thought Rich was going to come out and try to take me down to try and tire me out, but I was prepared to go five rounds. That was the biggest goal that we focused on."

"I wasn't going to give up any real estate just because Rich had the reach," Le continued. "Every time he would either establish his jab or throw his left lead, I would either have to take the punch or be in the pocket, and that was our gameplan, to stay right in his face. If he was in the punching range, I would punch, and if he was in the kicking range, I would kick."

"We studied a lot of his film, and every time he backs out, his hands were down. Our whole goal was to stand in the pocket with him, and catch him on the way out."

Penick's Analysis: Le and his team scouted Franklin very well, and they scored a huge win because of that. Le smartly recognized something he could exploit, tried to do just that a couple of times, and then capitalized on it when the final strike landed. It was a fantastic moment from Le, and perhaps the biggest win of his entire career. It's great to see how much thought went into that moment as well, as it was clearly something he had prepared for, and he managed to take care of it early on in the cage.

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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_15020.shtml

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