jakkups
04-09-2009, 06:46 AM
FRANK SHAMROCK WANTS TO TAKE DIAZ TO SCHOOL (http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=8539&zoneid=2)
Frank Shamrock may feel time’s effect on his body more than Nick Diaz, but believes his poise will decide their fight.
On Saturday, the two veterans meet for Showtime cameras at Strikeforce: “Shamrock vs. Diaz” in San Jose, Calif.
There are the physical challenges Diaz presents: his height and reach advantage, long arms, and skills on the ground. Shamrock wants to get inside and punch it out before being taken down.
More of a question mark, though, is Diaz’s volatility in and out of the cage, and how it will affect him during the fight.
“His focus can get broken by his emotion, and it tends to cloud your judgment a little bit,” said Shamrock. “On the flip side, somebody who’s passionate about something will go above and beyond their physical abilities, and tap into something that’s sometimes extraordinary.
“I always worry about the quiet guy and I always worry about the emotional guy. I think for Nick, it works. He’s at the right age where he can go in there, full of piss and vinegar and get his emotions up.”
And Diaz has already worked himself into a froth over Shamrock, mostly because the former UFC champion is trying to take money out of his pocket. When that happens, respect goes out the window.
Nowhere was that more apparent than the middle finger shoved in Shamrock’s face at the press conference announcing the fight. As Shamrock said later, he’s been around too long to take those things personally – John Lober once told him he was going to be strangled like Jon Benet Ramsey – but it didn’t buy any more respect for Diaz.
If anything, he feels a victory will teach Diaz a lesson – not to mention his supporters and fans in the “mainstream” of the sport.
“I know that people look up to him, and I’m concerned that that is what people are going to think about our art,” Shamrock told MMAWeekly.com. “I’m concerned that the more successful he gets, the more people are going to think that’s what you should do. I think that’s the wrong image to give off.”
Eleven years ago, he might have understood where Diaz was coming from. But standing opposite him as they’ve built the fight – he doesn’t like what he sees.
“I wasn’t a martial artist when I got into this sport,” said Shamrock. “I became a martial artist because it was necessary. That’s how you survive and you stay healthy and keep your sanity. I just don’t think he has that guidance. I think he’s a martial artist, but I think he’s lacking a lot of the core principles of martial arts.”
It’s less about the core principles Diaz practices than the ones he doesn’t. Call them habits, if you will, on display to the public.
“Vulgarity, excessive marijuana smoking,” he said. “You don’t do drugs and stuff. It comes off as kind of ghetto. His goals are obvious: he wants to be a fighter. There’s nothing wrong with that. He wants to be on the path. But certainly the path he’s taken is a very different one. It’s one of the most unique paths I’ve seen.”
In this case, unique is probably not a good thing.
Still, it’s not as simple as going into the cage and washing Diaz’s mouth out with soap. For better or for worse, he’s good for business.
“It’s a breath of fresh air, because you need somebody as an antagonist to promote a match,” said Shamrock. “We need people to stir up the pot. The fight’s going to happen, regardless, but there’s got to be some passion behind it.”
And that’s the issue that Shamrock has grappled with for much of his career, whether it came to him or the industry as a whole: what’s good for the sport, and what’s good for business. He’s largely detached himself from all but training and teaching, frustrated with the climate of the sport’s success. He felt the art was being stripped away.
“If you’re willing to compromise your morals to make commerce, then your art is not that important to you,” he said.
But he has a skill, and that skill is being used to put his kids through college. Sometimes the people you work with aren’t the nicest.
So when he tries to knock Diaz out on Saturday night, there will be a moral to his martial arts story, although “not in any way that he’s going to get,” Shamrock said.
Frank Shamrock may feel time’s effect on his body more than Nick Diaz, but believes his poise will decide their fight.
On Saturday, the two veterans meet for Showtime cameras at Strikeforce: “Shamrock vs. Diaz” in San Jose, Calif.
There are the physical challenges Diaz presents: his height and reach advantage, long arms, and skills on the ground. Shamrock wants to get inside and punch it out before being taken down.
More of a question mark, though, is Diaz’s volatility in and out of the cage, and how it will affect him during the fight.
“His focus can get broken by his emotion, and it tends to cloud your judgment a little bit,” said Shamrock. “On the flip side, somebody who’s passionate about something will go above and beyond their physical abilities, and tap into something that’s sometimes extraordinary.
“I always worry about the quiet guy and I always worry about the emotional guy. I think for Nick, it works. He’s at the right age where he can go in there, full of piss and vinegar and get his emotions up.”
And Diaz has already worked himself into a froth over Shamrock, mostly because the former UFC champion is trying to take money out of his pocket. When that happens, respect goes out the window.
Nowhere was that more apparent than the middle finger shoved in Shamrock’s face at the press conference announcing the fight. As Shamrock said later, he’s been around too long to take those things personally – John Lober once told him he was going to be strangled like Jon Benet Ramsey – but it didn’t buy any more respect for Diaz.
If anything, he feels a victory will teach Diaz a lesson – not to mention his supporters and fans in the “mainstream” of the sport.
“I know that people look up to him, and I’m concerned that that is what people are going to think about our art,” Shamrock told MMAWeekly.com. “I’m concerned that the more successful he gets, the more people are going to think that’s what you should do. I think that’s the wrong image to give off.”
Eleven years ago, he might have understood where Diaz was coming from. But standing opposite him as they’ve built the fight – he doesn’t like what he sees.
“I wasn’t a martial artist when I got into this sport,” said Shamrock. “I became a martial artist because it was necessary. That’s how you survive and you stay healthy and keep your sanity. I just don’t think he has that guidance. I think he’s a martial artist, but I think he’s lacking a lot of the core principles of martial arts.”
It’s less about the core principles Diaz practices than the ones he doesn’t. Call them habits, if you will, on display to the public.
“Vulgarity, excessive marijuana smoking,” he said. “You don’t do drugs and stuff. It comes off as kind of ghetto. His goals are obvious: he wants to be a fighter. There’s nothing wrong with that. He wants to be on the path. But certainly the path he’s taken is a very different one. It’s one of the most unique paths I’ve seen.”
In this case, unique is probably not a good thing.
Still, it’s not as simple as going into the cage and washing Diaz’s mouth out with soap. For better or for worse, he’s good for business.
“It’s a breath of fresh air, because you need somebody as an antagonist to promote a match,” said Shamrock. “We need people to stir up the pot. The fight’s going to happen, regardless, but there’s got to be some passion behind it.”
And that’s the issue that Shamrock has grappled with for much of his career, whether it came to him or the industry as a whole: what’s good for the sport, and what’s good for business. He’s largely detached himself from all but training and teaching, frustrated with the climate of the sport’s success. He felt the art was being stripped away.
“If you’re willing to compromise your morals to make commerce, then your art is not that important to you,” he said.
But he has a skill, and that skill is being used to put his kids through college. Sometimes the people you work with aren’t the nicest.
So when he tries to knock Diaz out on Saturday night, there will be a moral to his martial arts story, although “not in any way that he’s going to get,” Shamrock said.