MMAKO-Interviews

Friday, 05 June 2009

Interviews- Frank Shamrock

MMA-KO I would like to introduce myself. I am Devina with MMA-KO and would like to thank you for this opportunity, it is an honor.

MMA-KO On March 29th, at the HP Pavilion you will be defending the Middleweight Championship against Cung Le. Tell us about this championship fight.

FRANK: I think it’s going to be a challenging one, Cung is a skilled striker, a very accomplished martial artist so it’s a challenge I look forward to, but it’s going to be a test to my old bones there.

MMA-KO This is a Huge fight for the bay area. How excited are you to be taking on Cung Le?

FRANK: Oh I’m real excited especially the whole thing is kinda got down to the bragging rights of who owns San Jose or who the fans want to see as their champion, I mean its a huge deal.

MMA-KO: How do you see this Championship fight going?

FRANK: It’s gonna be fast, Cung’s gonna try and run from me and catch a little distance and be evasive and crafty and I’m gonna try to be aggressive and punch him in the chin. But I think it’ll go a round or 2, he tends to tire around the second or third round especially good pressure and I’m really good with the pressure.

MMA-KO: How is your training coming along?

FRANK: It is going exceptional well, and I’ve implemented some new types of training and I’ve got my old team back together so for me it’s sort of a launch into a full time professional fighter again, so that's kinda nice.

MMA-KO: Frank, You have said time and time again that you love to beat people at there own game. Is that your game plan going in to this fight?

FRANK: Yup 100 %. I’ll stand up with the stand up master and see if he really is that guy.

MMA-KO: What do you think your advantages are going to be in this Championship fight?

FRANK: Experience, power, aggressiveness, I think those 3 are difficult to overcome, you gotta not only be really really skilled but also stay very relaxed and except some damage, I just don’t think Cung is experience that type of damage yet

MMA-KO: How did you originally get into MMA?

FRANK: Totally by accident, in 1994 I was dropping out of college and wanting to move home and my step dad suggested that, well told me that if I was going to drop out of school I had to get a job or try the wrestling thing that my brother was doing, and that was it, I got caught up in the submission wrestling and next thing I know I was in Japan fighting.

MMA-KO: We believe you are Pound 4 Pound one of the best fighters in the world today. How do you see you’re self-matching up with against Anderson Silva or Dan Henderson?

FRANK: I believe like everyone else, I’m the greatest fighter in MMA, so for me its an art and a science and I’ve been studying for so long, I’ve been a pro for so long, everybody has their weaknesses and everybody has their strengths in their game and I’ve just developed a style that's strong in every area, so ya bring them all on I’m good.

MMA-KO: Frank you walked away from the UFC with a very explosive win over Tito Ortiz as the best fighter and Middleweight of the world. Will you ever make a return to the UFC?

FRANK: You know I can never say never cuz that always happens when I do, so I don’t know, you know currently I don’t like their model and their approach which is to put their brand first and their fighters second. Cuz I think the star, the talent, the fighter is really the star, is the reason why people come out, so we have a hard time agreeing because I think I’m the star and they think their the star, we just don’t get along in that way but you know I can never say never. I am very excited about Elite XC, signing with CBS, having an opportunity to fight on a national network. I’m very happy, they take good care of me.

MMA-KO: If you had your choice to fight anyone in the sport today who would that be?

FRANK: I would fight Barack Obama, I think he’s probably the most popular , strongest guy out there right now lol. I’m hoping he’s a martial artist. You know what I quit worrying about people to fight, I look at it from an entertainment and an artistic standpoint, I look at guys who will challenge me, I look at guys who will make me better, I look at guys that are gonna be a big draw, that’ll be good entertainers. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of those guys out there. I think the younger generation are getting very comfortable being on camera, their getting very comfortable being themselves, and I think this next year were going to see a lot of young stars come out, and Il'l probably be the old guys beating them up.

MMA-KO: Out of all your fights what was the most powerful moment ever?

FRANK: That’s pretty good, I have to say that the fight I just had with Phil Baroni was probably most powerful moments I’ve ever had, just overcoming the adversities of blowing out my ACL, and not being able to train right, going in with that kind of, I always go in with this do or die attitude, but I really felt like this was a do or die thing, and when I choked him out and when they raised my hand, it really felt like ,that I cheated death and I did something really amazing.

MMA-KO: What is the one thing you want people to know about Frank The Legend Shamrock?

FRANK: I genuinely like people, I think people are cool, I think they’re interesting, not only each person, but communities. People think I’m crazy cuz I fight in a cage, I think people are crazy for sitting in a cubical.

MMA-KO: Tell us about your gym at Shamrock MMA Academy in San Jose?

FRANK: First of all it’s absolutely fantastic. We offer a program here for basically everybody in the family. Mix Martial Arts for everyone, we have our kids starting at 5 and our oldest member is 67. And we study the art of fighting in a very healthy clean positive atmosphere. I kinda look at my school as a community effort to changing peoples lives. And we have lots of cool colors and stuff.

MMA-KO: Is there anything you would like to say in closing?

FRANK: If you haven’t started training in martial arts tomorrow it's not too soon to start.

On behalf of MMA-KO thank you for taking time out of your schedule for this interview, we appreciated it.

FRANK: Thank you Devina