stxnas
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SHAMROCK VS SHAMROCK IN EARLY 2009
Frank Shamrock will defend his Strikeforce middleweight title against Cung Le on March 29 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Cali, but it's his bout planned for the first quarter of 2009 that's getting the most attention. Frank Shamrock confirmed that he will fight his adoptive brother and UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock early next year.
"Oh yea. Unless I die, it's going to happen," the younger Shamrock told MMAWeekly.
Frank is a middleweight, 185 pounds, and Ken has fought most of his career as a heavyweight, but his most recent bouts have been in the light heavyweight division, 205 pounds. Frank revealed the two will compete at light heavyweight.
Frank said, "I do know the weight will be at 205. That's what Ken wanted. The where doesn't matter. The when will be the first quarter of 2009. The how will be right hand, left hook, right hand, and then that will be it."
The 35 year-old Strikeforce champion believes the match with the older brother that made the Shamrock name famous first will be the biggest fight in mixed martial arts history.
"It's going to be because this is the story that everyone can understand. Even if you don't like fighting, you get the story. You get the storyline. You get the characters. You get the players. I think this is what breaks our sport open to the masses, for real."
Shamrock plans to promote the fight heavily, unprecedented marketing of an MMA fight. He said, "I'm going to commentate on this next (Elite XC) event. I kind of got clued in on using the Showtime vehicle to promote these pay-per-views, these matches. In particularly we're all gearing up and focusing on the Blood Brothers: Shamrock vs. Shamrock match. We're both going to get it on, on Showtime, show our faces and build this fight the way a fight should be built."
He continued, "I've been examining the sport for a while. I think HBO has got it right for boxing, doing the 27/7 series, having a term of marketing, creating a docudrama, docu-reality type atmosphere leading up to an event. We're going to do the same with Blood Brothers. This will be the first fight that has a solid 13 to 14 months of marketing behind it and real story lines, real stars. I think this is the fight that's going to change the sport of mixed marital arts, make it more talent oriented instead of company oriented."
After all these years of back-and-forth banter between both sides, will the Shamrock feud be finally put to pasture when the two legendary combatants fight for real?
Frank Shamrock stated, "I think that's the big answer. I can tell you how I think it's going to be because I wrote the storyline, but that might be giving away the goods. I can tell you what it's not going to be. It's not going to be boring. It's not going to be not exciting. I think in the end it's going to be a loving, cathartic, family bringing together experience that everybody can understand, but it could just be a young brother kicking his older brother's a**. I don't really know."
