Frank Shamrock Plans To KO Nick Diaz Before Moving to Boxing

“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.

PC: When Elite XC went down, what was your mindset? Were you fielding offers, taking it easy or just simply letting this thing play out?

FS: I kind of let it play out. I put a lot into Pro Elite. I did a lot for them, but at the end of the day, their financial troubles were too much for everybody.

I knew a winner would come out and I was pushing heavily for Strikeforce. I got a healthy contract so no matter where my contract goes, I’m going to be okay.

PC: How do you balance training, teaching and running a gym at the same time?

FS: I never sleep. That’s my secret. I have a lot of really good people around me. I have a massive staff, a really good business partner, mentors and advisors. In many ways, I’m the figurehead, but I can’t say I do all of the work.

In fact, I do very little except for beating people up and orchestrating the whole thing. But I have really good people and a really good team and that’s the only way I could get it done.

I also have a good wife that let’s me do all of this stuff, and that’s a big plus as well.

PC: Did you watch your brother Ken’s fight at War God’s and is that a fight that still interests you or do you think time is passing?

FS: I did watch the fight and I think I’m not alone in being disappointed with the entire show. It still interests me 100 percent. To me, we are entertainers that fight, but without entertainment, it’s just two guys beating each other up and that’s not all that cool or entertaining in my opinion.

I thought the story was always important, that we told it, and it’s the history of the sport. We’re a family that bled for it. I think that’s important for the sport. But I think Ken’s day is done, man. He needs to hang it up, give it up and start running some businesses or something.

PC: They showed you at the Vic Darchinyan-Jorge Arce fight. What did you think of the fight and were you surprised at the reception you received?

FS: I was very surprised at the reception because that’s an entirely different community there. It’s an entirely different feeling inside of the arena. The pageantry and everything was very different.

And what were those guys, 113 pounds? Those guys can punch so hard. It was mind blowing.

I was sitting at ringside and you could hear the punches landing. It was an amazing fight. I’ve always loved boxing and it’s been one of my dreams to box and just to be there at ringside and have Showtime supporting me and Strikeforce at my side, it was a dream come true.

I was just blown away by the pageantry because, I mean, people were singing and dancing and it was an amazing event. They knew who I was so it felt good.

PC: I understand that you would like to lace up some boxing gloves in the near future. Is that something that you’re serious about pursuing?

FS: It’s been a dream since I was a little boy and being a boxing champion is what got me into mixed martial arts. I’ve already talked to Showtime about it and we’re looking for opponents.

Boxing, to me, is a very beautiful art, a very damaging art, but beautiful as well. I would love to get in there and try it. I’m running out of guys to fight in MMA so watch out boxers.

PC: Anderson Silva went through his thing where he said he always wanted to box Roy Jones Jr. Is there any boxer out there in particular that you would like to test your skills against?

FS: You know the guy who I think has an amazing game as a boxer is Antonio Tarver. I always thought he was just beautiful in the ring and years ago, when I used to watch him, I knew he would kick the crap out  of me because I didn’t have the skills, but now I think I have the skills to stand up with him.

PC: So you’re fighting, you opened three new gyms, you want to box and I understand there is a book on the way as well.

FS: It’s been 15 years in the making. I did it with the Dummies series. It’s called “MMA for Dummies!”

PC: And what can dummies like myself expect from this book when they pick it up?

FS: You will be able to get it at every single book store in the world come May and before then, you can buy it at amazon.com. I’ve been writing it for six months now and I’m actually sitting on top of the second copy and draft of it.

You will see 15 years of work, theories and concepts written down on paper and it just has me juiced, man.

PC: Thanks for your time; it’s always a pleasure. I want to see you about four times this year in that cage, my man. Is there anything you want to say in closing?

FS: I just want to thank everybody for their support and if you want to hit me up, I’m at frankshamrock.com. As far as the fighting goes, I’ll try to get three in for you. I don’t know about the four. I gotta spend a little time with my baby girl. I’ll get three in there for you, though!