The two ghost champions in Strikeforce are slowly but surely coming back into focus.  Heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem has committed to defend his belt in 2010, and now former middleweight champion Cung Le will evacuate the movie set to resuscitate his MMA career by fighting Scott Smith at Strikeforce's December 19 "Evolution" show. Cung Le has not made an appearance in the Strikeforce cage since his undoing of Frank Shamrock in March 2008, a bout in which he technically dismantled Shamrock on the feet en route to attaining the organization's 185 pound title.  Cung Le eighty-sixed his blossoming MMA career to test the Hollywood waters with a string of small acting roles that resulted in a very respectful and amicable relinquishment of his belt. Le will return to a recently remodeled Strikeforce, with the division he previously captained bearing the heaviest brunt of talented new additions, such as last night's freshly crowned champion and his opponent, Jake Shields and Jason "Mayhem" Miller.  Other emergent players in the surprisingly deep middleweight roster since Le's last tour of duty are Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, Matt "The Law" Lindland, Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos, Luke Rockhold, Tim Kennedy, and the lurking threat of the weight class jumping Nick Diaz. Scott "Hands of Steel" Smith has become a respectable gatekeeper, posting a 3-2-1 record under the EliteXC and Strikeforce labels combined, knocking out Kyle Noke, Terry Martin, and Benji Radach, but falling to division leviathans Robbie Lawler and Nick Diaz.  Smith is the hard working, all business kind of aggressive striker that the American crowd has grown to appreciate for his exciting performances despite the result. I'm excited to see Cung Le back in the cage where we can continue to see how his diversified striking abilities and San Shou throws and sprawls translate to MMA successfully, and Smith's straightforward boxing prowess should prove for an entertaining contrast in striking styles. Source:  Sherdog

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