KMA-Hello Mr. Shamrock.  I am a big fan of yours and appreciate you taking the time to speak to the readers of kauaimartialarts.com.  I along with many other MMA fans are curious,  what has Frank Shamrock been doing since he last fought a championship caliber fight 6 years ago?

Frank-What have I been doing?  Teach,  traveling training.  I tried some other stuff but I been in active competition all the time.  I like to travel more than I like to fight I think.

  KMA-There are shortages of people interested in you fighting in their venues,  do you feel that at this stage in your life the fighting aspect is no longer as important?

Frank-Well yeah,  I guess that’s well said.  Fighting is not the top of my list.  I like to watch em,  I like to train I like to work out but that day of me wanting to fight every body is not as important.  I still love to train train people and all that stuff.  I’m tired of breaking stuff,  getting mashed on,  beating on people.  It not as exciting as it used to be I guess.

KMA-I can really understand.  I fought 1 Am MMA fight and the amount of training consumed all my free time.  As a pro fighting the best I can imagine it being so much more demanding

Frank-Well luckily I’m in really good shape.  I keep my body in good shape  but it’s more mental for me I guess.  I’ve done just about everything except for pro boxing which is fine,  I don’t want to get punched in the head more.  I like the styles,  the art of fighting.  I love fighting.

KMA-I have watched almost every fight you have had except for the pancrease days.  You were one of the first fighters to really have an all around game.  You could punch,  kick,  takedown people,  you had a good guard and subs.  I think you also were the first person to take physical training to a new level.    Do you agree with this?

Frank-  Yeah,  I mean I certainly feel this way.  I’m sure everyone has their opinions but that was my intention.  I was winning a lot of my fights because I was making people tired.  Kicking them in the head or throwing them down or choking them.  I try to become a professional athlete.  That the good thing about our sport now,  these guy are in real good shape and they look like they can participate like real professional athletes.

KMA-What is the status of your fight with Caesar Gracie?  Do you feel Caesar is sincere about fighting you?

Frank-It’s still on.  We’re just waiting for the commission to let us know we can do it.  This will be the first one (MMA fight) in the state of California. 

  KMA-I heard about that,  that California is legalizing MMA.

Frank-Its legal already.  They’re just waiting  for the commissioner, to restructure,  and they’re waiting for governing.  When they say we can do it we will do it.

  KMA-When do you expect that fight to happen?

Frank-December?  That’s the whole thing they won’t give us a date.  We have to have time to ramp it up too.

  KMA-Government bureaucracy

Frank-Yeah,  it’s the worst.  It makes it hard because you can’t promote the event.  I’m full on training and I’ll be ready for it to happen.

 KMA-Is this going to be your last fight?

Frank-I don’t know.  I mean this fight happened from the internet.  It’s just ridiculous,  but it sounded good to me.  I mean I always wanted to fight a Gracie.  I always wanted to beat up a Gracie,  knock out a Gracie.

KMA-Caesar Gracie has coached some of the finest BJJ fighters including Nick Diaz, Jake Shields and Dave Terrell.  Never the less do you feel he is taking a big step in fighting you for his very first MMA fight?

Frank-Oh absolutely!    But I’m not taking him lightly.  I think he has bitten off way more than he can chew.  I think he is an internet warrior.  I always wanted a Gracie to show up in a ring with me,  it’s always been one of my goals,  it’s one of the reasons I got into this.  I think the whole Gracie Jiu-Jitsu thing is a sub par fighting style.  I’m ready to give it a shot.

KMA-What about fighting in Japan.  It seems like Pride would sign you in a minute if you wanted to fight.  Were you interested in entering the Pride MW tournament? 

Frank-I was never interested in doing a tournement.  I only really wanted to fight Sakuraba.  I was trying for that,  negotiating for that for like 2 years.

 KMA-What do you think was the holdup on that?

Frank-I have no idea.  I don’t think they wanted me to fight him or they would have paid me to fight him.  He was the only guy I really wanted to fight.  We had a good story,  I like his style,  we had the same teachers basically.

KMA-I think this would have been a good fight because you both are technical fighters and you both are the same size.

Frank-Yeah we very similar in styles.  It was a fight I wanted to do but it never worked out.  Politics and stuff got involved.  The truth of fighting is stuff not show on TV.

KMA-What about Rumble on the Rock?  They have the ability to put together some big purses.  I heard BJ Penn offered your brother between 250-300K to fight him.  If BJ Penn offered you 250 K with 8 months to prepare would you take it?

Frank-It would depend on who it was.  What the story was.  I like the art style of the fight I like art vs art style vs. style. 

  KMA-Would you fight BJ for $250,000.

  Frank-I’d fight anyone for 250.  I’d love to fight BJ.

KMA-What do you think of the current crop of the UFC talent wise?  The UFC has some really good fighters like Arloski and Hughes but they also have a lot of TUF fighters that are unproven.

Frank-I don’t watch the reality shows.  I like the big shows,  guys like Randy.  I watched the first season of the Ultimate fighter but now I just watch the guys I like.  The first season fights sucked.  Yeah I think the caliber is going down.  The sad thing is the sport has gotten really huge but the pay hasn’t.  These guys are some of the best athletes and the pay is the same.

KMA-  Is that why you left the UFC?

Frank-I left because I was done with them.  There was nothing left to do.  They are a business and I didn’t want to do business with them.

KMA-  Do you feel you were disrespected by the UFC?

Frank-No.   It’s business.  They don’t understand business.   I feel some people are good business people and some are bad.  I just chose not to do business with them.  I didn’t believe in their vision of what they were going to do.  They made it a big sport but I don’t like what they do.

KMA-What would you think of people on the Underground forum?  Do you go there and read what people are writing?  Do you think MMA fans are no fair-weather than other sports fans?

Frank-I have no idea,  I have never gone there.  I understand they exist.  I believe that most interaction is positive between people,  that people want to help people.

KMA-Your student Odell Mixon fought in Kauai and the fight didn’t go his way.  I talked to his opponent Lebeau and he said he was open to a rematch down the road but also said he was open to a fight against another student with similar experience.  Are you interested in coming to Kauai personally if one of these fights materializes?

Frank-Totally yeah,  I’m rebuilding my team and starting them on different ideas on training.  I love Hawaii,  I got married their,  my second marriage.

 KMA-Any message you would like to say to your fans and detractors?

Frank-For my fans and detractors? (laughs),  No,  thanks for your support and come check out my fight.

KMA-  Thank-you for you time.