Strike Force - Shamrock vs. Diaz

Three-time world champion and legend, Frank Shamrock, (23-9-2) will make his highly-anticipated return to the cage when he squares off with fellow knockout artist Nick Diaz (18-7) in the main event of Strikeforce’s first mixed martial arts (MMA) event of the year at San Jose, California’s HP Pavilion on Saturday, April 11th.

The matchup, which will be contested at a catch weight of 179 lbs, represents a key opportunity for the hard-punching Diaz to avenge a devastating, 21 second knockout that his trainer, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master Cesar Gracie, suffered at the hands of Shamrock in the main event of Strikeforce’s historic, debut MMA event at HP Pavilion on March 10, 2006.

Middleweight (185 lb. limit) sluggers Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith (14-5) and Benji “Razor” Radach (19-4) will battle each other in a featured contest on the card.

Tickets for “Shamrock vs. Diaz,” priced from $30, go on sale to the general public on Monday, February 23, at 10 a.m. PT.

“I’d be pretty p~~sed off if someone smashed my coach. He’s gonna be carrying the pride of his school with him, but a fight’s a fight. Someone’s getting smashed and its just not going to be me,” said the 36-year-old Shamrock, essentially regarded as the father of modern day MMA.

The San Jose resident earned his lofty stature by bringing to the sport a polished, hybrid fighting style combining western boxing, kickboxing, and submission wrestling in the mid-90’s when most MMA competitors’ skills were heavily concentrated in a single fighting discipline. He was crowned the first UFC middleweight champion in history after stopping “The Huntington Beach Badboy” Tito Ortiz with an onslaught of strikes in what is regarded as one of the greatest MMA battles of all-time.

“I’m done breaking myself for entertainment,” Shamrock continued. “I’m just going to break everybody else and they’ll be entertained by that.”

“Frank and I have always lived in a 100 mile radius of each other and, when I got into this (sport), the people around here were all about Frank Shamrock, so I turned around and walked the other way,” said the stone-faced, 25-year-old Diaz, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and one of MMA’s most rebellious characters known for his short fuse and crowd pleasing style.

“I’ve crossed paths and trained with people who have also trained with Frank,” continued Diaz. I know what they do, how they fight, and the way they act, so it’s great for me to get this fight while I’m still young. There’s a lot of things I can talk about, but I’m going to represent Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and I’m down for whatever’s going to happen in this fight.”

Diaz exploded onto the national MMA scene when he stunned fellow rising star, Ruthless” Robbie Lawler, with a right hook to the jaw that put Lawler flat on the canvas at UFC 47 on April 2, 2004.

When he steps in the cage with Shamrock, Diaz will look to notch his fourth consecutive victory after turning in a flawless 2008 in which he stopped all three of his opponents, including his last adversary, Thomas “The Wildman” Denny.

”I just got a bigger picture of what’s going on in my life and in the world,” said Diaz of his recent success. “I think I just needed to grow up a bit. I did that and things are coming to me much easier now.”

Shamrock’s start will be his first since March 29, 2008 when he sustained a broken right arm while attempting to defend the Strikeforce world middleweight championship against longtime Bay Area rival and undefeated kickboxing champion, Cung Le.

A Le round kick to the body caused the injury and prevented Shamrock from coming out to fight for round four of the championship bout scheduled for five rounds.

“It healed up like it never happened,” said Shamrock of his arm that underwent surgery.