“Lyoto Machida will beat Chris Weidman at UFC 175” – Exclusive interview with Cung Le
When you talk about athletes who transcended the sport of Mixed Martial Arts, the name of Cung Le will be right at the top. The former Strikeforce Middleweight champion has done everything one could hope to achieve in the world of MMA, and made a successful transition to being an actor, playing major roles in various movies.
The current UFC middleweight will fight Michael Bisping on August 23rd at UFC Fight Night, which is set to take place at the Cotai Arena in Venetian, Macao. Cung Le will be making his much anticipated return to the UFC after serving as the coach for TUF – China edition earlier this year. I had the opportunity to interview Cung Le in February, and that was when he told me that he will be making his return to the Octagon later this year.
This week, my colleague Ratish Menon and I had the chance to talk to the legendary fighter once again, as we talked about his upcoming fight with Bisping, along with his MMA career, his new projects and much more. During our conversation, we asked Le for his predictions regarding the fights on the UFC 175 card. We will upload the complete transcript, along with the audio of the entire interview at a later time to hype UFC Fight Night 48.
Here are Cung Le’s predictions for the upcoming PPV.
Akhilesh: So, who do you have as your pick in the main-event fight between Chris Weidman and Lyoto Machida?
Cung Le: I think since Weidman is coming off a knee surgery, having been through a few surgeries myself with my knees and elbows, I never gave myself enough time to recover. If he is doing the same and hasn’t fully recovered, the fight will go to Machida on points. Machida is going to know how to score and how to stay away from Chris’s strengths. But if Chris is a 100%, with his wrestling being so strong he would have an advantage on the ground against Machida, but this time I feel Machida is going to be in a position of advantage because he isn’t recovering from a surgery and his style is very hard to fight against for fighters who have never fought against traditional martial artists and he gives a lot of angles, defends the take downs well and when he is on the ground, he is hard to keep on the ground. I also feel his striking is a lot better than Chris’s and he is going to outpoint Chris is my take on the fight.
Ratish: Just staying on the course, in the co-main event Ronda Rousey defends her title against Alexis Davies. Who would you pick in this one?
Cung Le: I think Ronda is just too much for her. You know I thought Ronda would have her hands full with the Olympic Silver medalist in her last fight and she ran through her and I decided I will never doubt Ronda again. Ronda is just too strong and if you watch her on Instagram, you can see how much she is improving on her boxing with her boxing coach doing a great job. She isn’t scared to get hit and take a punch as was seen in her last fight when she was scraped up a bit after Sarah connected with a few punches, but she put her down with a knee and if she starts throwing head-kicks, then watch out! (laughs)
Cung Le will be returning to action soon, as he is set to take on Michael Bisping at UFC Fight Night 48 on August 23rd, and would be looking to notch up yet another victory in the UFC. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook and on Instagram, and be sure to check out his full interview which will be up soon, as he talks about fighting Bisping, his toughest rivalries, what he thinks about Chael Sonnen’s retirement and more!
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