MMA fans know Cung Le as the devastating striker and Strikeforce Lightweight Champion who broke Frank Shamrock’s arm with a kick and as a trainer of a number of MMA fighters like the UFC’s Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. Cung Le is now striking out into the movie business. Here is a clip of him with Channing Tatum in the recently released movie Fighting.
The caption on Channing Tatum’s YouTube channel says that he is Korean, but when I see the clip, I only see Cung Le, local Vietnamese guy from San Jose made good.
Channing Tatum beating Cung Le? Unlikely, but hey, it is an American movie! I do have to give Channing Tatum props for training with Cung Le. 8 Asians had discussions about Cung Le becoming an emerging Asian-American star, and he seems to be just that, starring as Marshall Law in the upcoming Tekken movie, having a key role in the science fiction movie Pandorum, and even making a movie with Yuen Poo-Wing called True Legend. Here is a picture of him as a Chinese Brigand.
I admire Cung Le for branching out into movies both in the US and Asia, even beginning to learn Chinese, while still keeping with his MMA and martial arts roots. Cung Le is someone to keep an eye on.
4 Comments to “Emerging Action Star Cung Le: Now appearing in “Fighting””
Michael wrote:
On UFC97 last Sat, they interviewed both Cung Le and Channing Tatum as a promo for fighting. Tatum gave Cung Le big props for training together and left no doubt – he’s an actor doing some fighting, while Cung Le is a fighter who’s doing some acting. Should be a good flick, but hope we can see more Asians in lead roles.
Posted on 26-Apr-09 at 9:40 am | Permalink
Jeff wrote:
I have heard some surprise that Dana White let someone from another promotion like Cung Le talk at a UFC event. I am kind of surprised myself, but perhaps he feels Cung is getting really big and thus is worth having him speak. I have seen him on UFC events, but only snippets when someone he is cornering wins.
Posted on 26-Apr-09 at 12:45 pm | Permalink
Michael wrote:
Well he appeared together with Channing Tatum so it was all-out for the movie, targeted of course, to MMA fans. Since Cung Le is in the movie and is a legit MMA fighter, it’s all good Marketing.
Posted on 26-Apr-09 at 7:26 pm | Permalink
Jeff wrote:
Wow, I saw the video of Dana White with Cung Le and Channing Tatum at
http://mma.fanhouse.com/2009/04/20/ufc-97-videos-dana-white-and-cung-le/
Dana totally disrepects Channing – I felt kind of sorry for him.
Posted on 27-Apr-09 at 5:22 pm | Permalink
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