Frank Shamrock: I’d Like To Fight Tito And I Like To Fight Cung Again

Twist of lEMOn · 06-13-2008, 02:42 PM

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MMAyou.com got to catch-up with Frank “The Legend” Shamrock. Check out what this UFC and Strikeforce champion had to say regarding his fight with Cung Le, a fight with his brother Ken, a rematch with Tito Ortiz, and much more.

MMAyou.com: First, how are you doing?

Shamrock: I’m doing alright.

MMAyou.com: Congratulations on a great job of commentating the EliteXC/CBS show. What did you think of the show?

Shamrock: I thought it was good. Made for what it was, which was a brand new audience watching a very young sport, I thought it was a pretty good demonstration of it.

MMAyou.com: What did you think of the Kimbo/James Thompson stoppage?

Shamrock: What did I think of it?

MMAyou.com: Yes.

Shamrock: I was kind of split. At the fight or during the fight I was probably a little more leading towards it probably being the right stoppage. I dunno but James can take some serious shots! It’s kind of his strategy. He doesn’t have a bad (inaudible) he just doesn’t recover very fast so he can take some pretty good blows. He takes a good punch. I dunno, it’s a tough one.

MMAyou.com: There were rumors that your microphone was cut as you were speaking against the stoppage. Is there any truth to that or is just rumors?

Shamrock: Nah I think it’s all controversy. I think it’s all rumors. (laughs)

MMAyou.com: Do you know who you’re facing next?

Shamrock: No, I don’t. I’m assuming that it’ll probably be like… I think it’ll be Ken.

MMAyou.com: Is that signed or anything or is that just rumors right now?

Shamrock: We’re pretty darn close to doing it.

MMAyou.com: Is that who you’d like to face next? There seems like there has been talk of it for a while now.

Shamrock: Yeah, I think it’s a good time for it. I think a lot of the recent fights are really good, coming down to timing and stuff. And yeah, I’d like to fight Tito and I’d like to fight Cung again. Those are two guys to fight out there that I think’ll be cool.

MMAyou.com: Speaking of Cung, this has been debated hotly. Did you stand with Cung Le for so long because you couldn’t take him down, or because you wanted to trade with him like you said you were going to, or was it a mixture of both?

Shamrock: I never tried to take him down. I wanted to stand up with him. I wanted to have fun and stand up with him. I never attempted to try to take Cung Le down.

MMAyou.com: Maybe I am thinking of at one point you almost took his back when he threw I think it was a back kick.

Shamrock: Yeah he tried to kick me in the head and I think I side stepped it a little bit and lifted it. It was more like a shuck. Like he was trying to get up and I think I tried to shoulder chuck him or something.

I didn’t try to take him down or do anything like that. I just did standup. I thought it’d be fun to do standup. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing but it was fun. I enjoyed it.

MMAyou.com: A lot of the kicks you were taking were directly on your arm. Were you doing more of a Dutch style of kickboxing where you take the kicks directly on both arms as opposed to a traditional Thai style where you check it with your leg?

Shamrock: You know what? I have no idea why I was checking like that. It didn’t hurt. I wasn’t worried about it until it broke and then there was nothing I could do about it by then so…

MMAyou.com: How close do you think you had him in that last round?

Shamrock: He was pretty… After I punched him in the throat he was pretty toast. I never felt like he was gonna win or anything. I felt one hundred percent confident that I was gonna knock him out even when my arm was hurt. He didn’t feel threatening to me.

MMAyou.com: If you were to fight Tito again would you use the same type of strategy as last time to get him to wear himself and to outpace him or what would you do differently?

Shamrock: I would do a similar strategy. This time I think it’d be more technical and more striking.

MMAyou.com: Your striking has definitely improved leaps and bounds. Every fight it seems like it is getting better and better. Is that a specific area you are focusing on now?

Shamrock: Well I’ve been making it my focus for a long time. Oddly enough it’s been such a focus that I’m bending that back towards grappling/MMA now. But yeah I’ve studied just striking for about eight years and I got obsessed with it.

MMAyou.com: You’re a guy who’s gone through some very difficult times in his life. What is it that made you so motivated and made you so successful?

Shamrock: Aaaaaa…. I don’t know. I like to win and I don’t like to you know, settle for something that’s not (inaudible) the best, or at least try for it. I like to compete and I like to win. That’s a big thing.

MMAyou.com: You might have already answered this but is there anyone you would like to face right now?

Shamrock: I would fight John McCain but he’s kind of banged up (both laugh). I don’t know. I don’t really follow the sport that closely and I know everybody pretty pretty.. I’ve been around for so long I pretty much know everybody. A fight for me is a fight that makes sense. Fights that I know are going to bring a big crowd, that are gonna have a good story, a good fight, and a good entertaining event.

MMAyou.com: You’ve definitely been delivering on that. Is there anything you would like to say to our readers?

Shamrock: Um… No (both laugh). Spend lots of time with your children and I’m good.

Id love to see both fights again.