Kimura

Tuesday, February 10, 2009
by Loretta Hunt (sherdog)

Frank Shamrock will fight Nick Diaz at Strikeforce’s April 11 event on Showtime.

The bout, which Strikeforce and Showtime announced Tuesday, will be contested at a catch-weight of 179 pounds.

The outspoken Shamrock is coming off a loss to Cung Le in a March 2008 Strikeforce event. His arm was broken by Le’s kicks in the entertaining 15-minute match. Before that defeat, Shamrock choked out Phil Baroni in a June 2007 Strikeforce main event.

Diaz, who is perhaps even more outspoken than Shamrock, has won three straight. Most recently he stopped Thomas Denny in a July 2008 EliteXC bout.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker also said Tuesday that Cung Le will not fight on the April 11 show due to an elbow injury. However, Coker expects Le to fight twice for Strikeforce in 2009, and he expects one of those fights to be a rematch with Shamrock.

A middleweight matchup between Benji Radach and Scott Smith has already been confirmed for April.

Also discussed in a teleconference call hosted by Strikeforce and Showtime on Tuesday:

• Lightweight standout Gilbert Melendez is also expected to compete on April 11. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said Melendez could rematch Mitsuhiro Ishida, who handed the American his first career loss at Yarennoka’s New Year’s Eve event in 2007. Ishida made a victorious Strikeforce debut in September. UFC veteran Jorge Gurgel, who signed with Strikeforce last December, is also under consideration to take on Melendez.

• Strikeforce aims to promote five live “championship-level” events and five up-and-comer spotlight events on Showtime in 2009. Showtime plans the full 16-fight schedule in 2010. Any CBS events scheduled will be separate from this number. Showtime would not comment further regarding proposed CBS events.

• Strikeforce’s next event is being planned for May in Washington. A return to Tacoma is a possibility. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said talks for an East Coast event -- particularly for Atlantic City or a Connecticut casino -- are underway as well.

• Coker continues to reach out to the camp of the 42 fighters whose contracts were acquired last week during a select assets purchase deal with Pro Elite. Coker said the promotion plans to give fighters proposed yearly schedules so fighters have a “general” idea of the dates they will be fighting for the promotion. Coker said all of the 42 fighters should be contacted by late Wednesday.

• Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson is among the 21 or so athletes that have already been contacted. Ferguson’s attorney was reached on Monday, said Coker, and told the promotion wants to get the fighter back in the cage “as soon as possible.” Coker said talks of a fight between Ferguson and former K-1 star Bob Sapp is still in the hypothetical stage.

• Strikeforce is open to co-promotion efforts, like its past collaborations with EliteXC in 2008. “When organizations get together that have compelling matchups that are relevant and work out in the end for both parties and the fighters, I feel like, ‘Why wouldn’t we?’ said Coker.

• EliteXC champions will be offered the opportunity to fight for Strikeforce titles (i.e. Josh Thomson vs. KJ Noons, Cung Le vs. Robbie Lawler), hopefully within the year.

• Strikeforce is taking a firmer stance with certain athletes’ contracts regarding exclusivity. “In the past, if we had a fighter under contract but couldn’t keep him busy, we’d let him fight here or there,” said Coker, “but based on the schedule, I think we’re going to be very busy.” Coker said the policy could loosen later.

• Though its next headliner will be held at a catch weight, Strikeforce plans to uphold the traditional weight classes already utilized in the sport (155, 170, 185, 205, up to 265, over 265). After his 179-pound against Shamrock, Diaz plans to return to the welterweight division. Coker said future catch weight bouts would be reserved for “special” occasions.

• Strikeforce CEO Coker said phone calls have been placed to secure the first title defense from heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem within the next few months. Overeem (29-11) last competed for Strikeforce in November 2007, where he was awarded the heavyweight title for an impressive second-victory from strikes over Paul Buentello. Overeem, who’s fought at light heavyweight for a majority of his career, is currently enjoying a resurgence in Japan with the Dream promotion as a full-blown heavyweight.

• Showtime plans to keep a production schedule similar to their EliteXC and ShoXC events. Frank Shamrock and Gus Johnson, who anchored the CBS “Saturday Night Fight” events, have already been mentioned for commentating duties.

• Though the Strikeforce-Showtime deal is not exclusive, Ken Hershman, Showtime’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of Sports and Event Programming, said the pay premium channel isn’t looking to branch out with other promotions at this time. “When we’re in with a partner, we’re in with a partner, said Hershman. “We feel that we’re going to be doing a lot with Scott [Coker]. I don’t feel we have the capacity or the desire to do anything with anyone else.” Hershman said Coker would be included in any other discussions of MMA opportunities that arise with the network.

• Showtime’s Hershman firmly said that there would be no further conversations about re-scheduling a proposed bout between Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock. The main event attraction was cancelled the morning of the Oct. 4 EliteXC event after Shamrock sustained a cut in warm-ups.

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Bigpapa42

I'm kinda excited to see how things fall together for Strikeforce. They've got some good fighters and it looks like they've put themselves in a good position. I have a lot more faith Scott Coker as a promote than Gary Shaw.

The Shamrock-Diaz fight is interesting. Two guys who know how to promote a fight. Shamrock is goign to be a big benefit for Strikeforce in that regard, as few guys in the sport are better. Its too bad that Ken's killed some of the interest in the Shamrock-vs-Shamrock fight, as that one could generate some mainstream interest for Strikeforce. It won't be much of a fight, but that's a different matter.

Kimura

I doubt they will ever fight. They might not like each other, but they are still brothers.

The Shamrock vs Diaz fight looks like an interesting one. In his prime, I think Frank would have taken Nick Diaz, but now I would have to go with Diaz.

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Bigpapa42

If the fight fails to happen, I doubt it has anything to do with them being brothers. They're adopted brothers, not blood brothers. They really don't like each other much at this point, and they both know its a money fight. It might not sell a ton of PPVs, but put in on free TV and it will attract a ton of viewers. Lots of casual fans and non-fans will likely likely be drawn in by it. Both Shamrock's are good at selling fights, and they know this is a unique fight.

I get a lot of updates on Frank Shamrock, as a poster on another board I frequent used to train with him and still talks to Frank. Of course, the guy could be full of crap, but he's never given me reason to doubt him. And he makes it seem like Frank really wants the fight with Ken to happen.

The Shamrock-Diaz fight will be interesting. I've learned the hard way that you don't bet against the Diaz brothers...

Kimura

Well, I said what I said, because they've hated each other since forever, yet the fight never happened. I definitely would love to see them go at it.

Both the Diaz brothers are so talented and exciting. It's gonna be a real tough fight for Shamrock. Nick Diaz's boxing is great and on the ground he is a BJJ Black Belt. I would love to know the money line for this fight.

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Kimura

Ken Shamrock Blasts Frank Shamrock For Ducking Him
By Chris Howie (MMANews)
Feb 11th, 2009

MMANews.com was able to catch up with Ken Shamrock prior to his fight this weekend at the WarGod’s and KSP St. Valentine’s Day Massacre show on Feb 13th in Fresno, CA and when the topic of Frank Shamrock, his adoptive brother, came up, Ken was not to pleased about the way things have turned out for their proposed match up.

“Frank’s been talking about fighting me forever. Every time it comes down to fighting me though, he backs out. From early on I was very skeptical about fighting him because all he does is get all the press he possibly can out of fighting me - doing interviews and getting time on TV and stuff - and then when it comes time to fight he doesn’t. This is the fourth time he’s back out of a fight with me. It’s the same thing with Kimbo Slice. He wants none of me because he knows he’ll get his ass kicked.”

When asked about Frank recently stating that Ken was the one who didn’t want to fight, the UFC Hall of Famer had the following reply:

“Dude, I’ve given that many interviews about this and not one time have I ever said I didn’t want the fight. He is the only one that ever brings anything up about not fighting. Every single time this is what happens and I keep telling people that. You’ve never heard me say I don’t want to fight Frank. He will always come
up with an excuse to not fight me. He did it with Wanderlei Silva, he did it with Sakuraba, and he did it with Rickson Gracie. He challenges people to fight because he wants the press and people to cover him but when it comes down to fighting he always finds a way out of it.”

Frank will be fighting April 11th against Nick Diaz for Strikeforce on Showtime and Ken was surprised to see that fight happen when they had been planning a fight.

“Tell me this; I was supposed to fight Frank. Who is he fighting now? He’s fighting a 155lb Nick Diaz instead of me because he is telling people I was having personal problems. He’s a chump, he’s a poser, and he’s a punk. He needs to either get in there with me and fight or he needs to shut up.”

“Frank wants attention. He wants people to think he is a legend. He wants people to call him a legend. No one ever called him a legend. He started calling himself a legend, he gave himself that name. He’d an idiot. He tries to get people to buy into him. For so long people have been trying to get him to fight somebody credible and he won’t fight them.”

Shamrock is not getting any younger and there will come a point where Ken’s body may not have the go it used to. He wants the fight with his brother but it seems to be just getting tiresome for him at this point.

“I’m tired of talking about it. Every time I do Frank uses it to get media attention. I say this over and over again, I want the fight but it won’t happen because Frank will make an excuse when it’s time to fight for it not to happen. If he comes to me again with the fight what am I suppose to do? This is four times now. What are people going to think? I want the fight. If he walked in front of me today I’d punch a hole in his head because he’s a poser and a fake. He’s a chicken.”

Ken also says that this is the most personal the fight has ever been due to the fact Frank won’t go and visit there dying father, Bob.

“My father is lying in a bed dying. My father went to prison when Frank was in there and would help him out and took care of him while he was in prison. When Frank got out he took him in and asked him me to take care of him. I put him up in my house. My father took care of him and I trained him. I got him fights, I took him to Japan, I got him to where he needed to be and then he walked out on us. My father is dying in a hospital bed and has asked Frank to go see him numerous times and he doesn’t go see him. He’s supposed to be his son. I want to put Frank in a hospital bed. He’s been doing this for years and I’m just tired of it. I’m sick of him talking. He’s a pussy. He needs to put up or shut up.”

Whether in happens in a ring or cage has been the question for many MMA fans out there, but with all the bad blood and heat between these two, it could happen elsewhere.

“I won’t wait, because eventually I’m going to run in Frank. End of story.”

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