ENTREVISTA KEN SHAMROCK

[SANKA]

Boxinginsider.com: Tell us about your next PRIDE fight with Sakuraba. How do you see it going?

Ken Shamrock: "I'm looking forward to this fight with Sakuraba. I'm glad to be doing what I love to do, fighting. As for how this fight's going to go, I'm training my way, how I want it to go. I'd like to bang a little, get it on the ground, wherever it goes, I have a lot of respect for Sakuraba. We've both been around a long time and given the sport a lot of exciting fights."

Boxinginsider.com: In regards to training, what are you doing different than last time?

Ken Shamrock: "Not much. I'm trying to improve my stand-up. Get back into my ground game. Get more sparring in this time, so far my sparring and grappling have been good. I just want to stay healthy going into this fight."

Boxinginsider.com: How is the knee?

Ken Shamrock: "It's strong. Like I said, I've been doing a lot of sparring, take downs, different situations, watching a lot of Sakuraba tapes from his last four fights. If you make a mistake with him, he's a crafty little character in the ring. Even if he has an injury with his knee, I take him very seriously. I'm ready for a battle."

Boxinginsider.com: How do you feel coming off of such a high-profile loss to Rich Franklin?

Ken Shamrock: "You take 'em as they come. I've been in this game a long time. I've had some big wins. Came out, fought a young kid, middleweight champion, just take 'em as they come. He came out on top. That's the way it went. So now I pick up the pieces and move on. I love to fight. I enjoy what I do. I want to keep doing what I do till I'm not able to do it anymore. As of now, I feel good going into the Sakuraba fight. Losing a high profile fight with Rich Franklin doesn't crush me. The UFC has big plans. I'm not in their plans for the future. Whether I won or lost to Rich Franklin, I knew it was time for me to move on."

Boxinginsider.com: How did you leave terms with the UFC?

Ken Shamrock: "Every place I've gone, I tried to leave with a good attitude and good relationship. Every day, I take it as it comes. The UFC had a lot of things going on. I wasn't producing for them. I lost to Tito, beat Kimo, then lost to Rich Franklin. Things didn't work out for me. To answer the question shortly, my relationship is good with the UFC. Things happen for a reason. I'm at where I'm at for a reason."

Boxinginsider.com: Internet rumors surfaced that claimed you turned down a Chuck Liddell fight. True?

Ken Shamrock: "[Laughing]...No. Nothing was discussed. The only thing brought to us was a Randy Couture-Ken Shamrock fight. Or Tito, which I wanted. The Randy Couture fight, as far as I know, the UFC didn't want to come to terms for Randy Couture and me to fight."

Boxinginsider.com: Tell us about the new book.

Ken Shamrock:"We got the new book out there - Beyond The Lion's Den. It's available at Borders and other major bookstores. So far it's doing good. It picks up where my first book Enter The Lion's Den ends - going to WWF and going back to fight after WWF. The book talks about wrestling, my fighting. It's a How To book also, along with a little bio and 70 different pictures of showing different holds. It's available at the website."

Boxinginsider.com: What other fights do you want to have?

Ken Shamrock: "I tell ya, I put this out there but nothing seemed to happen. I want to fight Tito. I had a torn ACL before our fight fight. I didn't want to back out. A rematch if I lost was agreed upon. It was a verbal agreement. I have yet to see the rematch. I think it was not on the UFC that it didn't happen, it was on Tito. He was like, I'll fight you, I'll fight you. But he never signed. He would have made as much as me. Obviously, he decided to do other things in the entertainment world because he's not been fighting. Other fights I'd like are...Royce Gracie would probably be the biggest fight in MMA history, besides the one we already had. It would bring in the old fans along with the new ones. And Don Frye and Fujita - the fights I had when I was injured, that I lost."




Interesante entrevista acerca de su forma de preparar el combate con Saku, sus problemas con UFC y sus luchas soñadas. para acabar su carrera.. animo Ken!!