Cung Le recently told MMA FanHouse that he will vacate the Strikeforce middleweight title, which he has not defended since winning it in March 2008. Le has been unable to fight due his filming duties.

He said:

“It is very hard. I work very hard and I’ve been fighting for a long time and I’m very proud of the Strikeforce middleweight belt that I got. And at the same time as a martial artist, out of respect for all the competitors in the middleweight division, whose fighting for that opportunity to fight for the title, I feel that at this time I can’t defend my title because of everything that I got going on right now, because it would be November the CBS show with Fedor. So I think the right thing to do is to vacate the title so they can fight for the true middleweight title because I don’t think it’s right for them to fight for an interim title while I’m running off doing movies and promoting the movie I’m in Pandorum and my other projects I got going on. I feel for me out of respect for all the other middleweight contenders that I need to take a step back.”

Le hopes to return to fighting sometime in early 2010. It is not yet known if he will receive an immediate title shot in his first fight back.

It is likely that Jake Shields and Jason “Mayhem” Miller will fight for the vacated title at the upcoming Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers event on November 7.

The event’s main card airs live on CBS starting at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

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