“As a fighter, he’s game. He’s game, he’s good, he’s aggressive, he’s not scared and he is definitely someone to be reckoned with. I definitely have to watch my ground game and make sure I’m on top of it.
"I know he’s going to come hungry. This is his chance to really make his mark. This is his shot at stardom. I know I’m going to have to knock him out to put him out,” stated the legendary Frank Shamrock as he talked about his upcoming clash with Nick Diaz.
Check out what else he had to say about Diaz, a potential move to boxing and much more.
PC: How have you been, “Legend?”
FS: Things are going fantastic. I couldn’t be happier and I couldn’t be busier.
PC: Could you tell us about your new gyms that went up out there in California?
FS: I opened them over the holidays. I got a little ambitious and opened three new Shamrock MMA facilities in the Bay area; they’re all beautiful, man.
The one downtown is in a historic building and I’m on the very top floor. It looks like a scene right out of Rocky IV. It’s fantastic.
PC: Was this an idea you had and just ran with it? What prompted the 3 new gyms?
FS: Yeah, well, you know I’ve been writing martial arts programs and teaching and training for so long, it was just time for expansion. We’re really growing out of our school.
Our members are very loyal and faithful. They drive all up and down the Bay area and we really felt like if we opened three strategically placed facilities, it would be more convenient for them.
They just flipped backwards, man. We’ve added rock climbing, high altitude training and Yoga. We just wanted to add a lot of different dynamics to it, and they just love it.
PC: I’m sure you’re excited about Strikeforce getting a deal with Showtime and picking up some of the Pro Elite contracts. How important was that for MMA?
FS: It was huge! Besides, the good guys winning one for a change and having somebody that knows how to promote martial arts and who is a martial artist himself, it’s what we need man.
Mixed martial arts is martial arts; you just mix up and people kind of forget that. They think it’s a brand new thing and it’s not. It’s been around for a thousand years and it has a culture all of its own and it kind of needs to be supported.
PC: I’ve heard nothing but good about Scott Coker. What has he been like to work with for you?
FS: I launched Strikeforce into MMA, I launched Coker into MMA, I launched MMA on Showtime and I launched MMA on CBS (laughing). Coker has been there with me hand in hand. He’s my business partner and he’s a man of his word and in this day and age, that is very hard to come by.
PC: On Apr. 11, you will be fighting Nick Diaz. What do you think of Nick as a fighter?
FS: As a fighter, he’s game. He’s game, he’s good, he’s aggressive, he’s not scared and he is definitely someone to be reckoned with. I definitely have to watch my ground game and make sure I’m on top of it.
I know he’s going to come hungry. This is his chance to really make his mark. This is his shot at stardom. I know I’m going to have to knock him out to put him out.
PC: You knocked out his trainer, Cesar Gracie, relatively easy. Can we expect the same in April for the pupil?
FS: Oh, yeah! I hope it will go just as fast, too, because I like them short nights. Stylistically, I think me and Nick match up well.
The biggest problem is Nick doesn’t move his head well and I punch really hard. If he doesn’t move his head, I’m going to knock it right off.
PC: Nick is the master of playing mind games in the middle of fights. I don’t think there are many people out there that does it better than you, but he’s pretty close?
FS: Yeah, I think he took a page out of my book and crumbled it up a little bit. But yeah, he likes to play the game. He’s always in great vascular condition so he’s got the wind to play around and stuff.
I don’t think you’re going to see him play around in this match. I think you’re going to see him scrambling for his life.
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