Purdy: In mixed martial arts, it is indeed no pain, no gain
By Mark Purdy
Mercury News Sports Columnist
Posted: 04/10/2009 06:09:23 AM PDT
About a year ago, Frank Shamrock had a bad night at the office. He broke his right forearm.
That can happen when your office is a caged ring.
Shamrock was fighting Cung Le in a mixed martial arts bout at HP Pavilion when Le mixed up Shamrock's ulna bone with one swift kick. This eventually led to a third-round defeat for Shamrock. His description of the injury is quite... uh, specific.
(ADVISORY: Those who cringe at violence in sports should go read about bowling or poker for the next few paragraphs.)
"It actually happened in the first round," Shamrock said the other day. "I leaned into the kick with my forearm and I felt something give and thought to myself, I think my arm's broke. But I threw the next punch and it didn't hurt — just a little weird, you know, vibrating funny. But it's not as if my arm was falling off."
And then?
"The further I got into the fight, I could tell something was wrong," Shamrock said. "In the third round, he hit me with one more kick and I could feel the bones separate. That's probably the worst pain I've ever had — very, very focused, extreme pain."
Or, as that feeling is known in the mixed martial arts world: Good times.
(ADVISORY: Bowling and poker fans may now resume reading.)
Shamrock remains San Jose's most under-the-radar world-famous athlete. He has set up a new attic gym at San Jose Athletic Club, across from St. James Park, where he comes and goes without much notice among the downtown workers. But as one of his sport's biggest names, Shamrock can draw seven-figure audiences to cable television and crowds of more than 10,000 to arenas — as will happen Saturday at the Tank.
It's going to be Shamrock's first fight since his ulna went to pieces that were screwed back together by doctors. The event is a pretty big deal, and will be telecast on Showtime. Just don't call it a Shamrock comeback.
"A comeback?" he said crankily. "I didn't know I went anywhere."
Neither has mixed martial arts, which gained legal status in California three years ago and has since attracted both ardent followers and ardent haters. The sport has not yet become the 21st century's most popular and sensational attraction, as some predicted. But it's still doing excellent business as various promoters — including the local Strikeforce group — keep battling for control and dollars.
Shamrock is 36 and has been around since MMA's beginnings; his big-perspective view is uncommon to athletes in most sports. He completely understands the whole marketing/business side of his game and just co-authored the book "MMA For Dummies." Last weekend, Shamrock flew to Houston for Wrestlemania. He sat in the front row next to his pal Mickey Rourke as more than 72,000 people cheered and hooted the biggest stars of pro wrestling. Shamrock was paying more attention to the staging — must have cost $5 million, he figures — and the production values.
Pro wrestling is scripted, of course. Mixed martial arts is not. Yet Shamrock believes the MMA people could learn a few lessons from their more theatrical brothers about how to build up an event. He lays out the story line for Saturday's show:
Shamrock is the MMA legend and psychological master. His opponent, Nick Diaz, is a 26-year-old punk from Stockton who freely admits he smokes marijuana recreationally (he had one MMA victory stripped for failing a drug test) and will be in way over his head against one of MMA's legends. At a prefight press event, Shamrock reached out to shake Diaz's hand, and Diaz responded with an obscene gesture. Three years ago, before a packed HP Pavilion house, Shamrock defeated Diaz's mentor and coach, Cesar Gracie.
"Nick was right there in Gracie's corner that night," Shamrock said. "The minute I knocked him out, Nick was yelling he wanted to fight me. No one gave it a second thought because he was 160 pounds or something. Now he's 185 pounds. I weigh 185 pounds. Showtime wanted an exciting fight, and Nick is the guy for that. He always goes forward."
So what's to prevent Diaz from breaking Shamrock's other arm? Or did he learn anything from the matchup against Cung Le (who, incidentally, also has not fought since that brutal evening)?
"The lesson I learned from the Cung Le fight," Shamrock said, "is this: What we do is very dangerous and really shouldn't be played with. I should have just knocked him out, not let him dance around and look good."
Shamrock then happily reveals the plan for national dominance: After conquering Diaz, the next step will be the first of many broadcast-network appearances, which will permanently release MMA from fringe status.
"I believe we're going to end up on CBS prime-time television later this year and we're going to have 5 to 7 million viewers," Shamrock said. "We're two years away from mainstream. We're five years away from being the biggest sport in the world. The only thing that's going to deter us is if someone gets horribly killed on prime-time television."
Well, yes. That would be bad for marketing. Or would it?
