King of San Jose: The Conference Call

JarryPark has the technical-difficulty-ridden audio to today's EliteXC/Strikeforce conference call, where Frank Shamrock and Cung Le pumped up their battle on March 29th; Gary Shaw, Jake Shields, and Drew Fickett were also in tele-attendance. Some highlights:

— Shaw predicts the live gate to exceed $1 million.

— Frank: "Like most people, [Cung's] afraid to go to the ground with me."

— Shaw on not pursuing the Randy/Fedor fight for EliteXC: "I do not tortiously interfere with anybody's contract or any fighter. I respect the fighter, I respect the contract, and believe it or not I respect the UFC. I have had talks with Fedor, I don't deny that, but I have not approached Randy Couture, and I can't approach Randy until I know that he's out of everything with the UFC. But I'd be thrilled to put it on...I'd sign it in less than a heartbeat."

— Frank on a fight with Tito Ortiz: "I think it's a great idea...there's a lot of strength and brand value in some of these old-timers like myself, Tito, guys like Ken. I've been talking to Tito about it and we're trying to work it out. Hopefully it'll come to fruition ten years after I last whupped him. I beat him on striking last time when my striking was really terrible. Now my striking is ten years more advanced and my conditioning is even better. I just think I would destroy him, but it would still be a great money fight and a great story."

— Shaw: "The biggest belt I wear is the one around my fat waist. On a serious note..."

— Frank: "To me it's about how big we can make a promotion, how much attention we can draw to it...I'd rather fight a guy like Phil Baroni who can sell a match like nobody else in the world — and who can take a beating like nobody else in the world — than a champion who can't put two sentences together and who doesn't draw big crowds."

— Frank on bro Ken's last loss: "I was pretty disappointed in his performance. I don't know if he's still got the heart of a lion in him...I know Ken's skill level, and I just think he's having trouble connecting his desire with his mind and his body, and putting all that together to be an exciting fighter."

— Shaw: "On a serious note, [Ken] was sick that night. He got some type of stomach ailment so he didn't go into the cage 100%, but he absolutely told me he's still got enough left to take your ass." [Frank laughs] "Alright, you're laughin'."

Also: Tomorrow, EliteXC will make an announcement regarding the fights on their first CBS card. Stay tuned.