Sham-Rocked: The King of Controversy, Pt. 1

Former UFC Champion and Strikeforce kingpin Frank "The Legend" Shamrock fought up-and-coming star Cung Le this past Saturday night.

While Shamrock lost the fight on a TKO from a broken arm and lost his Strikeforce Middleweight Title, one thing he didn't lose is his crown as MMA's reigning King of Controversy.

In an interview before the fight, Shamrock claimed never to have been knocked out or given up in an MMA match. A quick glance at his record clearly shows that Masakatsu Funaki and Manabu Yamada both have submission wins over him in the Pancrase organization, as well as a knockout loss to Yuki Kondo, which I have personally seen on video; Frank took a kick to the head that knocked him clean out of the ring.

Although all three fights were in the mid-90's and under the ponderous rules on Pancrase at the time (which included a lack of closed-fist striking to the face and pro wrestling style rope-escapes), the losses exist.

Shamrock undoubtedly does not have selective amnesia. It's more likely he made this outrageous claim in order to do what he does best; create a stir and draw attention to himself.

His verbal skills are as sharpened as his submission arsenal and newly-developed boxing game. If questioned, Frank would undoubtedly have a rationalization (he was technically conscious after the Kondo KO) for everything he says, and is a master at twisting his words just enough so that he's still not quite lying. He's a genius at what he does, and love him or hate him for it, it makes people watch him.

His "comeback" fight in 2006, after nearly three years out of the professional ranks, set an attendance record in his native city of San Jose. Considering that the fight was against Jiu-Jitsu expert Cesar Gracie, who had the requisite name value but not a single MMA fight to that name, it was clearly Shamrock who did the selling, not the matchup itself. A good thing he did, because the fight ended in 21 seconds when Shamrock knocked Gracie out cold with a punch.

Happy with the win and the resultant glory, Shamrock remained cryptic about his future.

Obviously there were plenty of people who wanted a crack at "The Legend," but Frank seemed to choose his matchups carefully, while also allowing the correct build-up (read: money) to take place.

As it went, Frank's next matchup was against another Gracie, Renzo.

Packing the requisite Gracie Jiu-Jitsu credentials, but also an underrated standup game and 19 fights to his name (including the only fight result I have ever seen listed as "No Contest—Fans Rioted"), Renzo was a different animal. Having seen it all and done most of it, he seemed to be in good spirits and immune to Frank's smack-talk.

Whether or not this had bearing on the fight is unclear, but what is clear is that Renzo was ready for war.

He took Frank down seemingly at will and dominated position throughout the first round. The second round looked to be more of the same until Frank landed two illegal knees to the back of Renzo's head from the bottom, stopping the fight and getting him the first disqualification loss of his career.

In true Frank Shamrock style, he shrugged off the loss, blithely saying "I thought we were fighting. I guess I need to take another look at the rulebook."

He offered Renzo a rematch that has yet to happen, and the fans once again exploded with speculation:

"Did he do it on purpose?"

"Was he scared of a real loss?"

"Was it just a mistake?"

"Was Renzo faking?"

It was this last one the raised the ire of many in the MMA community, especially since Frank himself worked not-so-subtly to lend credence to the theory. Being that Renzo Gracie once asked a referee for a moment to reposition his broken arm so that he could finish the round in a fight against Sakuraba, I personally find it unlikely that this is the case.

In any event, Shamrock moved on to his first "new-school" challenge: Phil "The New York Badass" Baroni.

Possessing a bodybuilder's physique, crushing punching power, and questionable variety in his skills, he seemed like an interesting matchup for Shamrock. As an added bonus, he also possesses a mouth and ego equal to, if not greater than, Frank's own.

Despite his tendency to fade early in fights, many picked Baroni as the one to shut Shamrock up.

Shockingly, Frank controlled Baroni both standing and on the ground, even taking time to pantomime "you're going to sleep" to Baroni just moments before dropping him with a pair of perfect punches and ultimately choking him unconscious, becoming the first Strikeforce Middleweight Champion.

Once again, the rumor mill swirled.

Shamrock had proven that he could step up against the younger guard of MMA, if perhaps not the elite.

Many clamored for him to move to a larger pond and face bigger names, but a long-standing mutual dislike between Shamrock and UFC president Dana White made this seem all but impossible, and still does to this day.

So where would Shamrock find his next hurdle? Read part 2 to find out!