Bay Area rivals Frank Shamrock (23-8-1) and undefeated Cung Le (21-0), will finally face off in the cage when Shamrock defends his Strikeforce world middleweight (185-pound limit) championship against Le in the main event of an eagerly anticipated EliteXC-Strikeforce co-promoted mixed martial arts extravaganza Saturday, March 29, at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.    

Bay Area rivals Frank Shamrock (23-8-1) and undefeated Cung Le (21-0), will finally face off in the cage when Shamrock defends his Strikeforce world middleweight (185-pound limit) championship against Le in the main event of an eagerly anticipated EliteXC-Strikeforce co-promoted mixed martial arts extravaganza Saturday, March 29, at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.     

    In another Strikeforce world title fight, defending lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez (9-1) of San Francisco, Calif., will risk his 170-pound belt against Gabe Lemley (11-6) of New London, Iowa.

    Tickets for “Shamrock vs. Cung Le,” priced from $30, are on sale at the HP Pavilion box office (408-287-7070), all Ticketmaster locations (408-998-TIXS), Ticketmaster online (www.ticketmaster.com), EliteXC’s official website (www.ProElite.com) and Strikeforce’s official website (www.Strikeforceusa.net). Doors open at 4:30 p.m. PT. First live fight is at 5 o’clock.
 
    In addition to the aforementioned world title scraps, three more bouts will be televised live on SHOWTIME (9 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast): in an EliteXC welterweight elimination fight, Drew Fickett (31-5) of Tucson, Ariz., meets Korea’s Jae Suk Lim (9-3), Mike Kyle (9-5-1) of San Jose clashes with Wayne Cole (10-6) of Oklahoma City, Okla., in a super heavyweight battle and EliteXC standout Joey “Dream Smasher” Villasenor (24-6) of Albuquerque, N.M., will thrown down with Ryan Jensen (11-3) of Omaha, Neb., in a middleweight scrap.

    Non-televised bout include: Jesse Jones (1-0) of Redwood City, Calif., vs. Jesse Gillespie (1-0) of San Jose at 170 pounds; Darren Uyenoyama (3-1) of San Francisco vs. Anthony Figueroa (4-1) of Gilroy, Calif., at 135 pounds; and Tiki Ghosn (9-7) of Huntington Beach, Calif., vs. Luke Stewart (5-0) of San Francisco at 170 pounds.