Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz April 11 San Jose

[SIFU RON]

I hope Shamrock wins - because we might see him and Cung meet again, what a fight !!!

On a lighter note, " The Sacramento Kid" will be fighting " Mike Brown" in June, a rematch and this will be " hum-dinger" .

[Three Harmonies]

Cung needs to continue to grow and push his envelope. I think it is WAY too early to be talking rematch. He has more important opponents ahead of him.
Jake

[Violent Designs]

Lawler will have to get through Jake Shields first! That is going to be a great fight!
Jake

Oh for sure man, that is gonna be, what do they say, SICK.

[Three Harmonies]

Word! Sick for shnizel!

[GeneChing]

...from our local San Jose newspaper.

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?

[BrokenTitanium]

Pretty good fights last night, although it seems as though Frank Shamrock was not in shape for this fight.

[AdrianK]

Frank is probably at the end of his career. He looked a thousand times worse than he did in the Cung fight, which I thought he was actually gaining an advantage before his arm got broken..

[Three Harmonies]

No "probably" about it

[GeneChing]

Diaz was clowning Frank. Frank got angry and locked into a losing strategy. Diaz was longer and out reached him with mad shots to the face. I was amused to see Shamrock lose on a psych level, since he used to be a master of intimidation. Diaz totally reversed that.

Here's my notes on the fight stats (my apologies for any inaccuracies - I wasn't being that strict about the stats). All the fights were decisive. It was a good night for Strikeforce.

NICK DIAZ def FRANK "The Legend" SHAMROCK Rd 2-3:57 TKO

GILBERT "El Nino" MELENDEZ def RODRIGO DAMM Rd 2-2:02 KO

SCOTT "Hands of Steel" SMITH def BENJI "The Razor" RADACH 19-4 Rd 3-3:24 KO

CRIS Cyborg def HITOMI "Girlfight Monster" AKANO Rd 3-0:35 KO

BRETT "The Grim" ROGERS 8-0 def ABONGO HUMPHREY Rd 2-1:38 KO

Undercard

LUKE ROCKHOLD def BUCK MEREDITH Rd 1-4:05 tap

ERIC LAWSON def WAYLON KENNELL Rd 1-4:45 TKO

RAUL CASTILLO def BRANDON MICHAELS tap

JAMES TERRY def ZAC BUCIA unanimous decision

JEREMY TAVARES def SHINGO KOHARA Rd 2-0:04 KO

On another note, I'm totally crushing on Gina Carano. She's hotter in person than she is on screen. Don't tell my wife.

[GeneChing]

Hispanic Business missed the boat on this one. Never mind Frank. What about Diaz and Melendez?

Strikeforce's Frank Shamrock Becomes the Face of MMA -- Again
April 10, 2009
Joshua Molina--HispanicBusiness.com

UFC's original star emerges to lead Strikeforce on the national stage. For Shamrock, the consummate showman, it's all business this Saturday night, on a national stage. On the precipice of his fight with Nick Diaz, Shamrock spoke to HispanicBusiness.com.

A contingent of nervous CBS executives was frantically pacing behind closed doors and the men in suits were about to panic. The opponent for the network's mixed martial arts cash-cow, Kimbo Slice, injured himself two hours before the fight, leaving Slice without a challenger, and CBS without a main event for its fall primetime network MMA show.

After a disastrous rating for the network's summer "Saturday Night Fights" card, the show needed to deliver in the ratings or else. In essence, the future off MMA on primetime network TV hung on the success of the show.

One of then men in the tension-filled room that afternoon was Frank Shamrock, a mixed martial arts legend, who was also CBS' color commentator for the network's first two shows. After about an hour of batting around ideas for how to save the show, Shamrock raised his hand and said, "I'll fight Kimbo."

There were chuckles. Nobody really believed him. Frank said it again. The laughter faded. Now it was getting intriguing.

Jumping from the broadcast booth into the cage to fight a man that weighed 50 pounds more than him would have been ratings gold, the kind of real-life cartoon drama that even the WWE's Vince McMahon would be envious of.

But that's also the kind of stuff that the 36-year-old Shamrock loves.

He's the sport's most charismatic star. He's fearless. And ultimately, he's a showman.

"What Race Are You?"
When you are born with the name Frank Alisio Juarez, you'd think you'd know you are Hispanic. But it never dawned on young Frank, who grew up poor largely on the streets in Santa Monica. His white mother and stepfather raised him after his birth dad abandoned the home. His reality check came when he was 11 years old, when his fists landed him in Juvenile Hall, and the guards asked him, "What race are you?"

A skinny Frank was about to learn not only that he was Mexican-American, but that fighting would be his ticket out of poverty and into history.

At age 11, he was declared a ward of the state of California. He bounced around in various foster homes. It looked like his Frank's fate was sealed: just another poor, reckless kid who gets in trouble and winds up prison, or worse.

But at the age of 13, Frank found his savior in the form of a man named Bob Shamrock, who ran a group home for troubled teens. The elder Shamrock instilled values and a sense of pride in him. The group home was where he also met an older teen named Kenneth Wayne Kilpatrick. The two would eventually bond with each other and the elder Shamrock. Bob Shamrock adopted them and they became Frank and Ken Shamrock, two of the greatest mixed martial artists in the history of the sport.

It's Showtime
It's the day before the fight and Frank Shamrock is hunkering down.

His latest blog posting on FrankShamrock.com reads, "its time to get serious. i am taking off to the hotel and getting ready to cut some weight. i was 185.2 when i got up so its nothing of a cut. looking forwrd to that BARBQ after. nick is gonna die. i love this sport. see you all at the weigh ins. frank "

[AdrianK]

You're right Gene, Gina Carano is gorgeous!

[GeneChing]

New from Wiley
I'm just imagining the anguish the publishers felt every time Diaz cracked Shamrock upside the noggin'...

Shamrock, Frank
Mixed Martial Arts For Dummies

- April 2009
19.90 Euro
2009. 240 Pages, Softcover
ISBN-10: 0-470-39071-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-470-39071-9 - John Wiley & Sons

Your full-color guide to this wildly popular combat sport!

Mixed martial arts is sweeping the globe! In this practical guide, legendary MMA Champion Frank Shamrock shares his expertise and love for the sport. He introduces you to his famous training and fighting system, explaining the virtues, ethics, and techniques of MMA in clear detail while showing you how to develop a safe, effective training regimen.

* Begin with MMA basics -- discover the history, the fighting styles, and modern rules and training techniques
* Prepare to start training -- strengthen your body, focus your mind, learn the concepts of combat, and find a good instructor
* Stand up for yourself -- your introductory course in stand up fighting, from essential strikes and defense to inside fighting with the clinch and takedowns
* Get ready to grapple -- understand the essentials of ground fighting, including the guard position, submissions, and escapes
* Become a well-rounded fighter -- improve your nutrition, develop a warm-up routine, expand your mental training, and get the rest you need

Open the book and find:

* Proven strategies to train your body and mind
* More than 150 step-by-step, full-color photos illustrating proper technique
* The 8 positions of power
* Necessary MMA training equipment
* The styles and strategies of MMA competition
* Fight-specific training drills and games
* Tips for increasing your speed and avoiding injury
* Advice from the expert on improving your ground game

[GeneChing]

Follow the link for a nice pic of Nick kicking Frank.

Nick Diaz passes drug test
By Lance Pugmire
April 21, 2009
Nick Diaz can breathe easy.

The mixed martial arts fighter, who openly discussed his enjoyment of smoking marijuana before an April 11 main event in Sacramento where he was tested for the drug, has tested clean, according to the California State Athletic Commission.

Diaz, 25, from Stockton, defeated MMA veteran Frank Shamrock by second-round technical knockdown in San Jose's HP Pavilion earlier this month on a Strikeforce card.

Before the bout, Diaz told The Times in a lengthy interview that he has struggled with attention deficit disorder and found, "I'm more consistent about everything being a cannabis user. . . . "I can pass a drug test in eight days with herbal cleansers. I drink 10 pounds of water and sweat out 10 pounds of water every day. I'll be fine."

William Douglas, the assistant executive officer of the state athletic commission, told The Times at a commission meeting last week that he had "read every word" of The Times story. Diaz tested positive for marijuana in Nevada in early 2007, having a victory changed to a no-contest.

But he cleared the latest screening in California, and will likely be on another Strikeforce main event in the near future.

[GeneChing]

We just posted Cung Le Stars in FIGHTING. It starts with this fight...

[Yung Apprentice]

It was sad to see Frank take that bad of a beating. (He's one of my favorite fighters) I still think he came back to quickly after suffering a BROKEN ARM. Nick Diaz on the other hand looked great. It's funny how underrated his striking is. I remember when he fought Lawler and everyone was saying Nick needs to take him to the ground and wound up out striking Lawler. Nick has an excellent ground game, but his striking is just as nasty.