After building for five years, the rivalry between the Bay Area's two biggest names, Le and four-time world champion Frank Shamrock, finally came to a head when the two met in the cage at HP Pavilion. A round kick from Le in the third stanza broke Shamrock's arm, rendering Shamrock unable to come out of his corner to star the fourth round. Le was awarded the TKO victory and the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship.

Le's fast paced, theatrical style of fighting, centered around kicking and extraordinary throwing techniques recently allowed the Vietnamese American to cross over into the world of hollywood where he is quickly emerging as the newest martial arts action star.

Le returned to MMA last December against Scott Smith. Le battered Smith with technical striking for the majority of the fight, however, Smith caught Le with a left hook near the end of the third round, handing Le his first professional loss. At Strikeforce: Fedor v. Werdum, got his revenge, defeating Smith with a powerful spin kick and punch combo that finished the other striker at 1:46 in the second round.