Shamrock: After Buying Strikeforce, UFC Is MMA

Frank Shamrock
has been an outspoken critic of the UFC,
but after the company bought Strikeforce recently, he’s giving them credit.


“I would say that the sport is now officially the UFC,” Shamrock
(Pictured) said during a “Savage Dog
Show” interview on the Sherdog Radio Network. “Which has been their plan and
strategy all along. Good on them for achieving it.”

Shamrock was a UFC
middleweight champion in the 1990s. He spent the last years of his career
competing in Strikeforce and
now serves as a commentator for the promotion.

“I knew [Strikeforce CEO
Scott Coker] was having financial trouble. Not financial trouble -- I knew that
he needed more money to expand and to compete in the marketplace,” Shamrock
said. “We had high-level talks over the past few months. I was trying to help
him. People were trying to help him. I knew he had to make a decision or make an
exit or something. I knew something was coming. I was pretty shocked it was the
UFC, but it is what it is: big business.”

Shamrock does not fault Coker
for selling to the UFC.

“This is business,” he said. “I supported the
brand of Strikeforce because I believe in the dream of martial arts and I
believe in Coker’s vision and in his passion, and he was honest. To me, that’s
all I need to do business with people. I believed in that.”

Listen to
the full
interview (beginning at 26:56).