In the early days of a sport originally known as "ultimate fighting" to American audiences, its concept was drastically different than in today's version. Instead of the typical "athlete vs. athlete" contest that is the foundation of nearly every sport known to man, "ultimate fighting" pitted different styles of martial arts against each other to find out which reigned supreme. Wrestling vs. kickboxing, karate vs. jiu jitsu, were common themes in the early days, as the actual combatants took a backseat to the theme of "style vs. style."Then along came Frank Shamrock.With a fighting style originally rooted in ground-based submission fighting, Shamrock is recognized as one of the first, and arguably most successful and prolific fighters to abandon the notion that mastering one martial art would suffice in no-holds-barred competitions. By expanding his training to all areas of the fight game, a trend that is the standard in the sport today, Shamrock became one of the pioneers that turned "ultimate fighting" into Mixed-Martial Arts.Frank Shamrock's fighting career began under the tutelage of older brother Ken Shamrock, who brought Frank into the fight world by way of the Japanese submission-based competition Pancrase. Fighting under the Lion's Den banner, Frank won the "King of Pancrase" title, becoming just the fourth person to hold the honor. During his time with the Lion's Den, Frank began to train with former World Kickboxing, UFC and K-1 Heavyweight champion Maurice Smith, who himself was seeking to round out his style by studying submission fighting. Just before his debut in the UFC, Frank broke ties with the Lion's Den, forming a team with Maurice Smith that was simply called "The Alliance." But the seeds of his current fighting alliance were planted in 1997, when Frank relocated to Sunnyvale, California and began training with two-time kickboxing world champion Javier Mendez, owner of the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose.Frank made his UFC debut at the December 1997 "Ultimate Japan," against the previously undefeated Kevin Jackson, an Olympic gold-medallist in wrestling who at the time was the UFC Middleweight champion. Defying popular opinion that he would be no match for Jackson's world-class wrestling skills, Frank declared, "wrestlers need(ed) a lesson in submissions"--and promptly arm-barred his opponent 22 seconds into the fight to win his first of five UFC crowns.The victory over Jackson was the start of a winning streak that would establish Frank Shamrock as the most dominant and complete fighter in mixed martial arts during that time. His cross training and determination to be the most well-rounded fighter in the world paid off, as he used not only submissions, but strikes, slams and superb cardiovascular conditioning to defeat world class fighters. It was also during this time that he started Team Shamrock, a fight team that trained out of the American Kickboxing Academy under Shamrock and Mendez and produced many world-class fighters.His toughest challenge would come in September of 1999 at UFC 22 in the form of Tito Ortiz, a cocky, talented young fighter who had mounted a winning streak against Frank's former team, the Lion's Den. Many suspected that Ortiz would be able to overcome Shamrock with not only a sizeable weight advantage, but also a brutal ground-and-pound style that he had used to beat his previous opponents into either submission or unconsciousness. Once again, Frank would prove the doubters wrong.In an epic battle that is considered by many to be the greatest fight in UFC history, Frank weathered the storm, and took an out-conditioned Ortiz into the fourth round, where he beat him into submission. Having taken on all comers, with each challenge tougher than the last, Frank retired from the sport after defeating Ortiz to pursue other ventures.After conquering the fighting world, Frank tried his hand in the entertainment business. His martial arts expertise opened doors in Hollywood, as he took a recurring role starring alongside martial arts icon Chuck Norris in the hit CBS series "Walker, Texas Ranger" both on camera and off, acting and choreographing fight scenes. He also appeared on the HBO series "Oz," in multiple television specials regarding mixed martial arts and a nationally televised commercial for Burger King. In addition to his experiences in entertainment, Frank has also created SODCS, (Science of Officer Defense and Criminal Submission), a system designed to equip law enforcement, corrections and military personnel with the ground skills required for hand-to-hand combat.Despite the amazing career Frank Shamrock has had as a fighter, in addition to the other avenues of success he has traveled, he refuses to sit back and live off of them. It is his desire to compete and once again use his charisma and talent to thrill audiences and help bring the mixed martial arts into the mainstream spotlight. He continues to teach his Shamrock Submission Fighting class and train at AKA in San Jose, California.
