Background and career
Frank Shamrock (born Frank Alisio Juarez III; December 8, 1972) is an American former professional mixed martial artist. Shamrock was the first to hold the UFC Middleweight Championship (later renamed the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship). During his reign, he was considered the No. 1 ranked pound for pound UFC fighter in the world. Shamrock has won numerous titles in other martial arts organizations, including the interim King of Pancrase title, the WEC Light Heavyweight Championship and the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship. Shamrock is regarded as one of the first complete mixed martial artists, having adapted his game from a ground-focused style of fighting to a more well-rounded and versatile style. He is a seventh degree black belt in submission fighting. He was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the 1990s by the Wrestling Observer, "Best Full Contact Fighter" by Black Belt magazine (1998), and three time "Fighter of the Year" by Full Contact Fighter Magazine. Shamrock was a color commentator for Showtime Networks, Bellator MMA, Glory Kickboxing and Combate Americas. Shamrock has been a brand spokesman for Strikeforce, VAS, UFC, and K-1 MMA. He is the adopted brother of Ken Shamrock.
Born into a Mexican-Native family on December 8, 1972, Frank Juarez was placed in various foster homes, group homes, and crisis centers from the age of twelve onwards. He had many run-ins with law enforcement until eventually he went to live with Bob Shamrock, who with his wife Dede, had taken in thousands of troubled boys (including Frank's older adoptive brother Ken). Juarez went to live with Shamrock at his home in Susanville, California, and was officially adopted by Bob Shamrock at the age of 21, and legally changed his name from Juarez to Shamrock thereafter. In the early 1990s, Shamrock served three-and-a-half years in the Folsom State Prison after being convicted of burglary.
In 1994, Ken began to train Frank in what they referred to as "submission fighting", which essentially was the Pancrase style of catch wrestling modified for No Holds Barred fighting. Frank accompanied his brother to bouts in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and grew to love the sport. He became a member of Ken's training school, the Lion's Den, and made his mixed martial arts debut in the Pancrase organization in Japan. Shamrock debuted as a fighter in Pancrase on December 16, 1994, in one of the biggest events in mixed martial arts history to date, the King of Pancrase tournament. He was an important underdog against top Pancrase fighter Bas Rutten but went on to defeat Rutten in a close decision victory. Shamrock faced off against expert grappler and eventual tournament finalist Manabu Yamada later that night, but was defeated via submission at 8:38 of round 1. In 1995, Shamrock would get a win over Katsuomi Inagaki, but he faced next his own trainer, MMA legend and Pancrase co-founder Masakatsu Funaki, who defeated him. He would bounce back with a victory over the other founder of the promotion, Minoru Suzuki, getting a KO after a flurry of strikes. The same year, Frank would also fight a controversial bout with Carlson Gracie BJJ black belt Allan Goes. The Brazilian illegally eye-gouged Shamrock while on his back without the referee noticing, and also refused to release a rear naked choke despite Shamrock using a rope escape, an action which finally gained him a yellow card. On the other hand, Frank retaliated by breaking his leg with a heel hook. Both fighters ended the match with a point lost, and it was ruled a draw despite Goes's penalization.
Shortly after, Shamrock faced Bas Rutten for a second time. He failed to execute his gameplan of taking down Rutten, and the two fell between the ring ropes to the floor in a specially hard-fought attempt. Shamrock then devised a new strategy and started mocking and taunting Rutten during a leglock exchange, in order to get the Dutch fighter angry enough to commit an infraction. The plan was successful, and Frank won a point when Rutten gained a yellow card for hitting him with a closed fist, but Shamrock still lost the match by decision. On November, Shamrock fought Funaki in a rematch. This time the two fighters traded rope escapes, and Frank caught Funaki in a toehold which made him tap out. Shamrock, however, believes that Funaki took a dive and allowed himself to be defeated in order to build Frank's popularity. After an injury prevented King of Pancrase Bas Rutten from defending his title, an interim championship was created. Shamrock faced Olympic alternate wrestler and master submission grappler Minoru Suzuki on January 28, 1996, for the vacant belt in a match that drew widespread anticipation. In an epic bout, Shamrock submitted Suzuki with a kneebar at the 22:53 mark of the fight to win the King of Pancrase interim title in front of a sellout crowd in Yokohama. Shamrock scored decision wins over Ryushu Yanagisawa and Osami Shibuya before facing off against Bas Rutten for the third time for the undisputed King of Pancrase title. Rutten won the bout via TKO due to a cut stoppage when a tired Shamrock received a knee to the forehead in a takedown attempt. Shamrock then avenged his loss to Manabu Yamada in his next bout, scoring an impressive submission win over the talented grappler. However, after his adopted brother Ken left the organization following a dispute with management, Frank was fired in retaliation.
On January 17, 1997, he lost to John Lober in Hawaii's Superbrawl by split decision. Despite dominating the first three minutes of the fight, including a leglock which broke Lober's ankle and some strikes which blew out his front teeth, Shamrock's lack of cardio became a factor, and Lober was able to come back and punish him until winning the decision. After his loss, Shamrock shifted the focus of his career exclusively to mixed martial arts. Shamrock then fought top ranked Japanese fighter Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in RINGS and defeated Kohsaka by decision. Within the Lion's Den, Shamrock trained up-and-coming stars such as Jerry Bohlander, Pete Williams, and Guy Mezger. However, after a falling out with the team's management, he left and formed The Alliance team with Maurice Smith, who he developed a close relationship with. Smith trained him kickboxing along with Javier Mendez, while Shamrock taught Smith his style of submission wrestling. Later, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka himself joined the team. Cornered by The Alliance, Shamrock fought Enson Inoue in a bout in Vale Tudo Japan '97 that would determine who would fight Kevin Jackson for the newly created UFC Middleweight Championship. After an exciting back and forth battle, in which Shamrock's training proved instrumental to resist the punishment and the exhaustion, Frank knocked Inoue out with a knee, although the match was officially ruled as a disqualification win due to Enson's brother, Egan, running into the ring after Shamrock had knocked out Inoue. Shamrock later stated that this was the toughest fight in his career.
After the win over Inoue, Shamrock joined the UFC and fought Kevin Jackson for the newly created UFC Middleweight Championship (later renamed the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship). Jackson had won the middleweight tournament at UFC 14 and was undefeated in MMA at the time, and was also the Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling for the 1992 Summer Olympics. Despite being a heavy underdog, Shamrock armbarred Jackson in just 16 seconds to win the championship. Shamrock then made his first title defense against then undefeated Extreme Fighting champion Russian Igor Zinoviev at UFC 16. Zinoviev was a feared Russian kickboxer and sambo specialist who held wins over Mario Sperry and Enson Inoue. Shamrock shot a double leg takedown and slammed Zinoviev down so hard that it knocked him unconscious. Zinoviev suffered a broken collarbone and a fractured C-5 vertebra from the slam and had to be carried out on a stretcher. Zinoviev's fight with Shamrock forced him to retire permanently from mixed martial arts ending the Russian's career. Shamrock then defended his belt against Jeremy Horn at UFC 17, submitting him with a kneebar. In October 1998, Shamrock avenged his earlier loss to John Lober by beating him decisively in 7 minutes at UFC Brazil. In September 1999, Shamrock defended the UFC Middleweight Championship against future UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz at UFC 22. Ortiz had exploded as a star after his confrontation with Shamrock's brother Ken and his Lion's Den camp at UFC 19. The bout was hyped as a grudge, as Shamrock was a former Lion's Den member who, according to the marketing, was out for revenge against Ortiz. However, this was not necessarily the case because Shamrock had left the Lion's Den on bad terms a year and a half earlier. Despite dominating his opponents in his previous title defenses, Shamrock was considered to be an underdog in this fight; Ortiz had come off convincing wins over Shamrock's former teammates Jerry Bohlander and Guy Mezger and popular opinion was that Ortiz was too big and strong for him to deal with (Ortiz cut weight to fight and by the time he stepped into the cage he would have 25 lb (11 kg; 1.8 st) on Shamrock). However, in what is widely considered to be one of the greatest fights in UFC history, Shamrock won after brutal elbows, punches, and hammer blows forced Ortiz to tap out at the end of round 4. Shamrock has stated that Ortiz was his toughest opponent physically due to his weight advantage and style of fighting. With this win, Shamrock solidified himself as perhaps the greatest UFC champion in history to that date, going 5–0 in title fights and finishing each fight decisively. After the win, UFC owner Bob Meyrowitz and announcer Jeff Blatnick both praised Shamrock as the greatest competitor in the history of the UFC. Shamrock then relinquished his title and retired from the UFC. After retiring, he briefly acted as a consultant and commentator for the company. In an interview, UFC president Dana White said:
