Cung Le favors 'TUF' coaching over fighting, but Bisping still on his radar

Cung Le said he’s waiting to hear whether his next career move involves fighting or coaching. At the moment, he doesn’t know which one it will be. 

Le (9-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC), who his past November knocked out ex-champ Rich Franklin, said he still wants to fight Michael Bisping. And until recently, he was under the impression he would do so. 

“Before [Bisping's] last fight, my camp was talking to (UFC matchmaker) Joe (Silva) about a potential matchup, and they said that if he wins, it looks good,” Le told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “Next thing I know, two or three days ago, I saw that Bisping was going to fight in October in England. 

“Even though I’m not 100 percent, I wasn’t 100 percent in China, either. If they really needed me, they would have called me. I thought we were working something out, but obviously, the next day, the word was that they were targeting me to coach.”

The former Strikeforce champ might be referring to an MMAjunkie.com report earlier this month that stated he was targeted to coach on “The Ultimate Fighter: China,” which is slated to debut in November and run for 12 episodes. Featherweight, lightweight and welterweight divisions are soon to audition for the show. 

Le thought that was the answer he was waiting for, but as he said, “no one’s called me.”

“So I caught (UFC President) Dana (White) today (at the UFC Fan Expo), and he told me I’m on his call list,” he added. “So we’ll see.”

Bisping, who this past April earned a technical decision over Alan Belcher, recently told “UFC Tonight” that Le was injured and unable to fight at the rumored October event in the U.K. 

Clearly, Le would take the fight. If Bisping is unavailable, he said matchups against Vitor Belfort, Mark Munoz or Costa Philippou would also also be of interest, but he wasn’t overly excited about them. 

And in any event, he isn’t sure where he’s going next. For all his desire to compete against Bisping, he’s leaning toward coaching over fighting. 

“Of course I’d love to do both, but right now, I think coaching would be pretty awesome,” Le said.

The opportunity to help the UFC establish a presence in China is one of great honor for Le, who already is a star in the country through his work in martial arts movies. He boasts over 500,000 followers on China’s version of Twitter and has broken box-office records. 

Fighting, while appealing to his competitive spirit, comes with baggage – namely, injuries that have accumulated over 20 years of fighting. At the moment, he’s still recovering from a nagging elbow injury and training lightly in the gym. 

That’s not to say competition is out of the question, he stresses, but it’s perhaps more of a consideration than ever before. For a while now, he’s been carrying the torch for older athletes, and he might be ready to put it down. 

“My career is coming close to…I’m 41 now,” Le said. “Big fights, big names, main events, co-main events, I really never put any thought into it. I’m just excited to be a part of the sport.”

Whether he does that in the cage or outside it is just a matter of talking to White. He’s not signing off on either. 

“Until I sign on the dotted line, we won’t know,” Le said. 

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.