Wywiad z Frankiem Shamrockiem

CZĘść 1 wywiadu z Fankiem z Insidefighting.Jak dam rade to też przetłumaczę .Dużo troche tego ku*wa.Jeśli ktoś chce to proszę bardzo.

InsideFighting.com: You held a ShootBox event. We haven’t seen one since. Talk to me about that.

Frank Shamrock: Well, ShootBox was about five years in the designing stage and it was something that I really wanted to do for a really long time. I went out and raised a bunch of money for it. I sold 49% of my ownership rights for it in electrical properties and the company that I sold all that to was a public company. And somebody decided to take all the money and leave. So I’ve been tied up with those guys in litigations since the show ended in August. We’re almost finished. Everything has reverted back to me legally. There’re a couple other legal issues that are small, but as soon as they are cleared up we are back in action again.

IF: That sounds like criminal intent.

FS: Oh yeah. Well, someone is going to jail. Basically when I did the deal, when I signed the contract, when I did my part of the business we had over a million dollars. When it came time to do the Caesar Gracie and Frank Shamrock show we had about $60,000 and no one seems to know what happened to it. I know I didn’t get it. So…

IF: Let’s talk about the fighters that participated in that. Were they hurt by this as well?

FS: I don’t think that they were hurt by it. I know everyone got paid. There were some checks that bounced, but they were eventually paid-up. I know the commission was taken care of and everything like that. If anything, I think it just hurt the credibility of the sport once again.

IF: As a fighter yourself, having come up through the ranks the way you did, being so honorable and having the respect of almost everyone, it must have really hurt you to see this happen.

FS: Yeah. I feel strongly about it in both ways. First off, these athletes aren’t treated the way that they deserve and secondly, neither is the sport. You know, it’s sad. We spent tens of thousands of dollars on building this and marketing the idea. I did everything right. We did everything right. Then this butthead criminal activity sort of circumvents the whole thing. More than anything, mixed martial arts has a credibility problem anyway and we don’t need anything else to mess with that.

IF: When you have the opportunity to actually start your own promotion, do you just build this from the ground up, taking into consideration all the credibility problems that you can list and remembering everything that you didn’t like or mistakes that others had made? Is this just the perfect opportunity for you to do things right?

FS: For me it was. I’m always doing the next thing. I’m always working on the next project because I get bored easily and I like to keep busy. But this was something that I had never told anyone about, that I had kept secretly for almost six years and built on my little laptop by myself. It’s something that I really believed in and I have really high hopes for it still. I don’t think it’s over. I know it’s not over. The concept and the idea are way too strong and the reception from the community is way too strong. I just gotta get these buttheads out of my hair and into jail so I can keep going.

IF: Do you have a timetable for seeing this show back and running?

FS: Unfortunately I don’t. I have my hands tied 100%. The reason is that the very name and imagery of ShootBox is owned by or partially owned by other people. So I can’t even go into the media and say anything official about ShootBox legally.

IF: Well I respect your candor thus far.

FS: When it’s done and it’s finished, I’ll tell everyone what happened. [laughs] Because they deserve to know. And some people like Bruce Buffer, I don’t think he ever got paid. Bless his heart. He came down and busted his balls for us. But I don’t think he ever got paid. If I had the money, I’d send it to him.

IF: Well Bruce has a Mercedes, Frank. He doesn’t need the money. [laughter]

FS: Well he’s got a couple of them. I think he’s doing just fine. He came down and worked because he’s my friend.

IF: Bruce, if you’re reading this, I’m only kidding. Even though you do have a Mercedes. [laughs]

FS: [laughs] He does have a Mercedes. Bruce is doing all right. He’s got a real job. [laughs] IF: Frank, the last time we spoke there was a little him-hawing about possibly taking on Caesar Gracie. What ever happened with that?

FS: Unfortunately it got caught-up in the ShootBox drama. After the initial show I submitted a budget for fighting Caesar through our company board. They approved the budget. Everybody was supposed to do what they were supposed to do. Then when I went to implement it there was no money in there. So that was the first problem with the fight. The second problem was that I really needed Caesar’s help and his people’s help to sell this fight to the Nevada Athletic Commission. Because bless their hearts, they’re not going to let me, with my 40-something fights, fight knuckles with no fights. And I got a bio that my 15-year old son could have written better and with more intention. I realized at that point that, “he doesn’t really want to fight me." So I went on to the next project. But the Rumble on the Rock has contacted me. They are very interested in having me fight Caesar. I’ll probably fight him there.

IF: Any time estimate for that one?

FS: Nah, we just started talking about it basically.

IF: So when you told me once that you had something possibly lined-up for Nevada, that was the fight with Caesar?

FS: Absolutely. I made my pitch to the commission…no one realized that I had been working on this for years. And the sad part is that someone just stepped on the whole thing. That’s what really sucks because no one knows that I stay up late at night and think of these things because I want to make our sport bigger than it is. Can one person make a difference? I think so.

IF: How about your connection with the WEC? Any callbacks on that as far as defending your championship there?

FS: Oh yeah! I know they would love to have me participate. I would love to participate with them. The deal that I did for them, the show came out great. They did a pay-per-view sale that was real nice. I think we’re going to line up some distribution. It was a very successful venture. I think that they’ll want me to come back. I don’t know if I’ll go back. I’m not into the whole title thing. I’m looking. I’ve got nine belts here to my left. They don’t do anything. They’re pretty. I’m past that point in my career now. I go there because I want to challenge myself or I want to test something or produce something. There’s a different thing for me now.

IF: You certainly can’t be oblivious to the virtual outcry to see you back in action.

FS: No, I hear about it. I get several hundred emails each day. [laughs] I appreciate it. It gives me the desire to do it again. Will I do it again? I don’t know. It’s nice to be wanted. IF: You’ve made it clear to me in the past that it’s about the challenge for you. I think the fact that you get bored easily is a testament to your creativity and so forth. So then there is Kazushi Sakuraba. This is a fighter who you said… there wasn’t exactly a need to fight him, there was something about your styles that led you to desire to fight him. Are we any closer to seeing that happen?

FS: It appears to be. They actually, finally decided upon a date. It was supposed to be June 20th. Before I left I told them [Pride FC], “This is very important. I’m going to do this movie. It will take about three weeks. I gotta know what’s going on so I can plan." I have a corporation that schedules all my crap. Then they never replied. So I went ahead and scheduled everything. Then towards my last few days of shooting, they sent me the contract back and said, “okay, we want you on June 20th." [laughs] So I spoke to them yesterday and let them know that plans had changed and that I don’t appreciate…they called me back in October. They said, “You have to fight Sakuraba. It’s very important." I said, “funny, because I want to fight him anyways." So I did a deal with them and had a real pleasant negotiation and they’ve been him-hawing around with it ever since then. They didn’t come to the states, they didn’t do this, and they didn’t do that. They wouldn’t name a date. They wouldn’t name an opponent. Then when they finally did, as Karma would have it, I’m not available. So we’re looking at August right now. To be perfectly honest with you, I love going to Japan. But I have no desire to pick up all my crap and go there and fight unless it’s Sakuraba. They’re not going to let me fight him first, they want me to do three fights, yaddy yah, and it’s always changing.

IF: Certainly you’re aware that even with Pride’s best case scenario, you could end up having a last minute change of opponent, irrespective of whether or not you would fight that person.

FS: Oh certainly. And that’s why I haven’t done business with them in the past and that’s why this deal hasn’t been completed. They’re him-hawing, “oh, well we can’t actually name him [Sakuraba] as an opponent." So I go, “who am I gonna fight?" “Well, it will be somebody around that weight." I’m like, “shoot!" [laughs] I’ve come a little bit too far to be hinging.

IF: “Frank, meet Wanderlei. Wanderlei, meet Frank."

FS: Yeah! [laughs] Or it’s like, “Wanderlei’s hurt so we got Bob Sapp for you tonight!" [laughter] “Oh, okay?!" [laughs] They have a hidden agenda planned that they don’t bother to tell the athletes about and it’s not really fair in the sportsmanship aspect of things. So I make them sign. I make them put the name down and everything or I’m not going to go. I don’t need that. I don’t need the stress. I’ve been stressed. I had ten years of stress. I want to relax now.

IF: Given your current training schedule with teaching and so forth, how long would it take you to get in shape for Sakuraba?

FS: Sakuraba, realistically about 90 days. Currently I teach four nights a week. I train typically 4-5 days a week. That’s hard training, fairly hard training. And then, for physical preparation it would take me about a month to get my base fairly strong with another two weeks to get my cardio real strong. About six strong weeks and I’d knock Sakuraba out.

IF: At which weight would you compete?

FS: 185

IF: Have you had your eye on the middleweight division of the UFC at all, even just for curiosity sake?

FS: I watch them if that says anything. The last one I saw was the Tito [Ortiz] and Randy [Couture] one.

IF: Have you had a chance to see Lee Murray fight?

FS: Yeah, yeah. I’ve seen Lee Murray.

IF: If you were a middleweight in the UFC, how would you match up with two of the big attention getters like Lee Murray or Phil Baroni?

FS: God bless ‘em. I’ve got different pieces and I’m playing a different game. So, match up? I would love to fight either of those guys. Do they match up? It isn’t even close. I’m not saying this because of a giant ego or whatever. I’ve been doing this for ten years, living every single day of it. I don’t think those guys have. I don’t think those guys are in the same league. But I’d love to fight anybody who thinks they’re going to kick my ass. [laughs] It’s just different. It’s so weird, Ron, because as I get older I get more and more cynical when I look back at it. The truth of the matter is that I did it all for me. I wanted to be the best for me. I wanted to be the champion for me, and that’s still how I live my life.


IF: I think you’re an incredibly unique fighter.

FS: I am the reluctant champion. Somebody said that to me about a year ago. They said, “You’re the reluctant champion." I said, “No, I really want to be the champion." So I’m the champion. Now what? Do you want me to defend it 15,000 times? I’m not into that. I want to do the next thing. I think the next thing is fighting in a box with no cage, no windows, nothing and you just duke it out. [laughter] I think that’s the next thing because I’ve done everything. I’ve fought in Rings, Pancrase, Vale Tudo, K-1…

IF: Well, you’ve already got the name copyrighted so you might as well just change the concept of ShootBox, to a box. Then you can fight in a box.

FS: Well, I think that’s what’s going to have to happen. And I’m still really disappointed with the business dealings that were done with the ShootBox thing, but I’m going to clean that up. I think that will be the flagship image that I put my energy behind and my attention and stuff. In the entertainment industry there’s a real opening for combative entertainment and the stories and stuff that go along with it.

IF: Let’s segue into that a bit, the entertainment industry. Talk to me about your new movie.

FS: (Too Be Continued)

He he, obiecales ludziom tlumaczenie...

Dobra dobra zara sie biore.wczoraj miałem lekki zapierdul.Sorki

Z tym tłumaczeniem to sie trochę przeliczyłem i utknąłem w pewnym miejscu.Tak więc bzdur nie będę wrzucał.Jak znajdę więcej czasu to jeszczę nad tym popracuję.A to CZĘŚĆ 2

IF: Let’s segue into that a bit, the entertainment industry. Talk to me about your new movie.

FS: Well, the movie is called No Rules and it’s basically loosely based on cage fighting. And it’s about a young kid growing up in Michigan who’s a cage fighter, his father was a cage fighter and he wants to try the big time. So he goes to L.A. and pursues this path of life that leads him to the cage and a big showdown with the people that actually killed his parents. It’s a well-written story. The content is mostly fighting and the experience of a young athlete going through that thing. Good movie. Tom Sizemore is in it, Gary Busey, Pamela Anderson, Randy Couture, of course Frank Shamrock, David Dunn, Matt Lindland, Don Frye and a bunch of other folks who I couldn’t catch their names. It is the first real movie on mixed martial arts in the industry. The fighting scenes were very close to reality, as close as we could get them anyways without too much candy. And then the rest of it is just good fun.

[laughs] But Randy, in one of his scenes he comes out with this big knife and gives this big speech to all the underlings how “to be the best you’ve got to win and you gotta spill blood” and he saws on his hand and blood just squirts everywhere. And when we were doing the filming, there’s a lady standing there with a squig, she squeezes the blood bag and all this stuff but they only show the knife. Well when she squeezes it, it shoots all the way across the room all over the director. Everybody is like “Oh man!” And they have to do the whole set again and clean everything up. It was hilarious. It was the best one. I got the picture just before that happens. I wish I would have got the one after because that was hilarious. [laughter] IF: What part did you have in this?

FS: I was Damien Slade. I was the evil current world champion. And I am the nemesis that parallels the star, “Kurt.” David Dunn plays “Kurt” and we eventually have the big showdown.

IF: With these new opportunities that are coming your way, this has got to be what it’s all about. This has got to be the dream of every up-and-coming fighter I would think.

FS: Absolutely. And the interesting thing for me is I have been here before. Four years ago I was basically in the exact same position. I fought Tito, retired, and was in L.A. in the industry and all the other stuff. At that time I really wanted to do more fighting. So that’s why I closed my schools, sold my business and basically moved back to fight.

IF: Can a movie about mixed martial arts or no holds barred fighting give credit to the industry? Or does is just bring about a shock-value awareness and knee-jerk reaction?

FS: It will most likely just be eye candy to most people. Like the Mark Kerr show did [Smashing Machine], I’m hoping that there are some people who are on the line who either view it as commitment or something to participate in. You know, nothing does justice to what we do. Nothing explains how these men live, how hard they work, how little they’re paid and how much sacrifice they make. Nothing can explain it. And until we do, and are able to explain it in that medium, we’re always going to be the small sport.

IF: Now that you’re under new governorship out there, how far away is California from beginning to realize some of the same mixed martial arts success that other states are starting to see?

FS: A couple years ago I had put that at five years and I want to say realistically that we’re still on that timeline. We’re probably about 2 ½ years into that. The political climate in California is really changing. Our only problem is that we just don’t have any money. As soon as someone steps up with that money, about a half million dollars, we’ll be legal in California.

IF: Who’s pushing for that? Who are the players out there?

FS: There was a bill that had been pushed through. I can’t remember the delegate who had the bill and submitted it. I don’t know who was behind all that, but what I can tell you is people know who I am and I know about the industry because when big people call me and ask me things, I know there are things going on. So, big people have called me in the past three months and asked me what the status of California is and asked me what needs to be done to expedite it.

IF: Would you feel comfortable using the resources available to you, (intellect, experience and so forth) and spearheading a movement like that? Maybe speaking to a legislative body if called upon to do so?

FS: Oh, absolutely. I already have. I already have just because I think it’s necessary.

IF: UFC 47 is just around the corner and we’ve got a few big fights on this card. I won’t ask for your breakdown on all of them, but I’m especially interested in Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell. Can you give me your tale of the tape for this fight?

FS: I think it’s a very intriguing fight because of the story that’s been built. Whether it’s true or not, who cares? It’s a great story, which is the only reason why I’m plunking down the money to buy it; otherwise I’d go to my friend’s house and watch it. [laughs] Now, with that said, it is a good fight style-wise. They each have the other’s weakness and strengths. Chuck’s strength is that he is suspect on conditioning. He gets tired and his ability to inflict damage decreases as well as his speed and accuracy. But he does have great punching power and that, I think, is the equalizer in the whole fight. If you’ve got punching power you can always end it with one shot. That is also Tito’s weakness. For some reason, call it age, call it style, call it mentality, he does not like to get hit. No one likes to get hit, but mentally you deal with it, you move on and you go forward. That is Tito’s weakness. If Chuck can exploit that, he’ll win. If Chuck gets tired, I think he’ll lose. Actually, I know he’ll lose.

I think the way this fight breaks down is really just a battle of two wills. Who has done the homework and who will impose their will on that night? I think Liddell by KO is very likely. But if I were to bet money, I’d bet on Tito by the decision, especially if he’s in good shape.

IF: Can Chuck Liddell win a decision against Tito at this point in both of their careers and in this organization?

FS: If I own the company? No. But I don’t, so I don’t know. But if I had set down several million dollars of advertising on Tito Ortiz, let’s just say that I would do what’s best for the company.

IF: Tito has adjusted his training this time. He’s down in Huntington Beach. He’s not up in the mountains anymore. He has an altitude machine, which I’m not altogether familiar with, but he doesn’t have altitude. What are you thoughts on altitude training and will this hurt him?

FS: You know, I don’t honestly know. I’ve never tried altitude training. I understand the concepts and the theory of it, but I’ve never participated in it. The thing I know about Tito is that if you beat Tito in a checkers match, the next time he’s gonna try to beat you because he’s a champion and he’s that kind of person. I think one of the best things that ever happened to Tito was to lose to Randy Couture, and to lose the way that he did.

IF: It’s interesting that you would bring that up because he marks one of the turning points in his career as having been a loss to you.

FS: Oh, absolutely! He basically looked at who and what he was and made a very strong decision. And with that as a record, I think…I’m hoping that he’ll do it again. And if he does, Chuck is going to have to hit him fifty times in the chin to put him down because I did the same thing in 1997. I decided that no one in the world was ever going to beat me, and no one in the world ever beat me because they would have had to kill me and then drag me out of the ring. I think Tito is one of those people that will make that decision and do the homework.

IF: Frank, you’re a class act as always. I appreciate your time.

FS: No worries, bro.