Fight Talk

Cung Le won a wild battle with Frank Shamrock in the main event of the latest Strikeforce show, which aired last Saturday night on Showtime.

Le clobbered Shamrock with kicks and punches into the third round before Shamrock mounted a furious comeback. Le stopped the flurry with a pair of head kicks, and Shamrock could not respond.

Strikeforce also made headlines earlier in the week by signing a deal with NBC to produce shows on Saturday nights. You better set your TiVo, because it will air at 2 in the morning after “Showtime at the Apollo.”

Gilbert Melendez is the Strikeforce lightweight champion after a dominating victory over Gabe Lemley.

In other action, Drew Fickett beat Jae Suk Lim with the guillotine; Wayne Cole beat Mike Kyle with an armbar in 42 seconds; and Joey Villasenor knocked out Ryan Jensen.

Ultimate Fighting Championship is preparing for a double-bill of televised events on April 2 before its next pay-per-view on April 19.

The next Ultimate Fight Night special will be a three-hour event starting at 7 p.m. Eastern on April 2. The main event will be a battle of lightweight contenders as Kenny Florian (9-3) takes on Joe Lauzon (15-3).

Karo “The Heat” Parisyan (25-4) will take on Thiago Alves (18-4) in a featured welterweight fight. Also, Matt “The Hammer” Hamill (5-1) will battle Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch (7-1) in a light heavyweight bout.

After the show, Spike TV will air the first episode of The Ultimate Fighter 6. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Forrest Griffin will be the team captains.

The next pay-per-view will feature a battle of welterweight stars as Matt Serra faces Georges St. Pierre on April 19 in Montreal, Quebec to determine the undisputed champion of that weight class. Serra won the title from St. Pierre last year.

Also, UFC 83 will feature a pair of middleweight fights. Rich Franklin will take on Travis Lutter; and Nate Quarry will battle Kalib Starnes.

Anderson Silva erased all doubt that he is the world’s top middleweight fighter when he choked out Dan Henderson at UFC 82: Pride of a Champion.

Silva retained the UFC middleweight title and unified it with Henderson’s Pride 185-pound championship.

Henderson hung in there with Silva early. However, Silva used his skills as a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to take over on the mat, winning with a rear naked choke at 4:52.

Chris Leben moved closer to a shot at Silva with a convincing win over Alessio Sakara of Italy. Leben floored Sakara with a left and pounded his way to a TKO victory at 3:16.

In a battle of heavyweight contenders, Heath Herring won a split decision over Cheick Kongo of France. Kongo looked great at first, but he didn’t have a solid strategy to put Herring away. Herring recovered and controlled the pace on the mat in Rounds 2 and 3 to pick up the win.

Japanese welterweight Yushin Okami knocked out Evan Tanner with a knee strike at 3 minutes of Round 2.

Also, John Fitch won a unanimous decision over Chris Wilson in the middleweight opener; and Josh Koscheck defeated Dustin Hazelett on a TKO in Round 2.

Dan Henderson lost his Pride welterweight title to Quentin Jackson last year. He has a chance for redemption tonight against Anderson “The Spider” Silva (20-4).

Henderson also holds the Pride middleweight title, and he will unify the belts in his bout with UFC champ Silva at UFC 82: Pride of a Champion in Columbus, Ohio.

Middleweights will also be featured on the undercard, as Alessio Sakara (16-6-1) will face Chris Leben (17-4), while Yushin “Thunder” Okami (22-4) battles Evan Tanner (34-6).

Also, French heavyweight Cheick Kongo (11-3-1) will try to follow up on his win over Mirko Cro Cop when he faces Heath Herring (27-13-1).

In addition, Chris “The Professor” Wilson (12-3-1) will face Jon Fitch (20-2-1) in a welterweight fight.

In other news, CBS signed a deal to air prime-time MMA specials with the Elite XC promotion. Kimbo Slice beat Tank Abbott in the last Elite XC show on Showtime. This will be the first time MMA has aired on network television.