Frank Shamrock retirement from fighting

Mixed martial arts pioneer Frank Shamrock has called it a career.

The first man to win the belt that would become the Ultimate Fighting Championship's light-heavyweight title announced his retirement tonight at Strikeforce's show in San Jose. He hasn't fought since losing to Nick Diaz at a catchweight bout of 179 pounds in April 2009, on Strikeforce's first show under its current arrangement with Showtime.

"My time has come," Frank Shamrock told the crowd at the H-P Pavilion in San Jose. "The stars like Gilbert Melendez and Cristiane Cyborg. They are the future and I am the past. Tonight I announce my retirement and I say this will be the last time I walk into this cage as a fighter."

It has been years since Frank Shamrock was a truly significant fighter, but Frank Shamrock helped pave the way for the current generation of mixed martial artists.

Frank Shamrock learned catch wrestling techniques under his adoptive brother Ken in the Lions Den during the early 1990s, and eventually followed in his footsteps to become a titleholder for Pancrase in an era when it was still the top MMA promotion in Japan. Frank Shamrock's battles with Pancrase pioneers Masakatsu Funaki, Minoru Suzuki and Bas Rutten in the mid-1990s were among the most memorable in that organization's history.

After Pancrase's relationship with Lions Den deteriorated, Frank Shamrock found himself fighting in Rings and other promotions while drawing UFC's eye. He made his UFC debut by winning the organization's 200-pound championship in 16 seconds with an armbar on Olympic champion wrestler Kevin Jackson.

Frank Shamrock defended his belt four times in memorable fights, including a March 1998 knockout of Igor Zinoviev that remains arguably the most brutal slam in UFC history; a difficult, gritty 16-minute grappling battle with jiu-jitsu expert Jeremy Horn; and a four-round triumph of endurance over Tito Ortiz.

Frank Shamrock walked away from UFC after tapping out Ortiz and fought only sporadically over the next several years, while spending more time as a trainer and TV commentator. The last bout in which he was truly competitive ended with a broken arm inflicted by Cung Le in March 2008.

Beyond the fight record, Frank Shamrock's most important contribution to the sport was emphasizing the "mixed" part of MMA. He and Rutten were among the first fighters to train extensively in both striking and grappling techniques, and introduce advanced physical training techniques.

They were so far ahead of their contemporaries in the 1990s that at the end of the decade, there was virtually no argument about their status as the top fighters in MMA. If the sport eventually passed them by, it only did so because of the work they laid down in the first place.

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Strikeforce Cung Le TKOs Scott Smith

Strikeforce Cung Le TKOs Scott Smith

Smith went after it immediately at the opening bell, trying to close the distance to avoid those kicks that hurt him the first time they fought. It worked briefly, but it didn't take long for Le to figure out Smith's timing and start to land punches. Midway through the round Smith went for a takedown and Le sprawled, and Le controlled Smith in the north-south position and landed punches for most of the rest of the round.

Strikeforce Cung Le TKOs Scott Smith 

Le landed a combination of punches early in the second round and then knocked Smith down with a back kick to the gut, although once he got Smith down he didn't really seem to know what to do with him, landing a few strikes on the ground before getting back up.But while Le doesn't have much of a game on the ground, he can do a lot on his feet, and that's what he showed: Le delivered a hard kick to Smith's ribs that knocked Smith to the ground, then he pounced, landed a few punches on the ground and ended it.

Strikeforce Cung Le TKOs Scott Smith 

Le, who improved to 7-1 with the victory, was avenging his only loss -- Smith beat him in a thrilling fight in December. He said after the fight that he'd be open to a third bout with Smith, who fell to 17-7. A rubber match might make sense for Strikeforce in the future, but for now, Le showed that he's the better fighter.

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Adams Sandler Reveals

Whether or not you’re a fan of Adam Sandler’s movies, you should be a fan of his talk-show appearances. Two perfect examples: Last night’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Jimmy Kimmel Live. He brought along his Chris Rock to visit their old buddy Jon, and the two had fun talking about their Grown Ups costars David Spade and Rob Schneider. Spade, we found out, injured himself doing a flip when he was young and still has back pain, so when you go to the movies with him, he brings his own folding chair and leaves early. Stewart admitted he always thought Schneider wasn’t gonna age right: “He was gonna go Yoda-y very quickly.” Rock concurred. “It takes all the effort he has to look as bad as he looks right now,” he said. (That effort involves eating right, doing yoga, sharing vitamins, and making his own tea while Kevin James looks on as though he wants to kill him.)

Over on Kimmel, Sandler went solo. In part 1, he gave a play-by-play of the third time he gave a commencement address at his old high school in New Hampshire. He kissed the first girl who got her diploma on the cheek, then realized he’d have to kiss every young woman. (“Don’t humiliate me, come here,” he joked.) In part 2, he talked about working the comedy clubs with Rock when they were teens. Sandler didn’t take bombing well, but “Rock enjoyed hurting the crowd.” In Part 3, he reminisced about doing a four-episode arc on The Cosby Show when he was 18. Rock, who’d already been hanging around the set just to worship Bill Cosby, came to watch Sandler tape. The warm-up comedian got sick, and Rock went on and killed — for the first two or three minutes. Sandler thought Cosby, who was watching from the wings, was gonna call NBC to get Rock his own show until Chris said, “And what’s with this Bill Cosby? Mushmouth — the most racist character.”

“Not in my house,” Cosby said. Rock was asked not to come back.

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Portugal Brazil South Korea at World Cup

Portugal joined Brazil in the round of 16 on Friday after the two teams played a bad-tempered and often listless game. The top-ranked Brazilians won Group G and No. 3 Portugal finished second.
Swiss people were far more inauspicious after their nil-nil match with Honduras. Their inability to score cost them advancing, with European champion Spain, ranked second in the world, taking Group H thanks to a 2-1 victory over Chile. The Chileans grabbed second place.

All five South American nations advanced, the first time that's happened for the continent.

In the other match Friday, Ivory Coast shut out Democratic People's Republic of Korea 3-0.

The second round matchups have Uruguay vs. Republic of Korea at Port Elizabeth and the U.S. vs. Ghana at Rustenburg on Saturday; Germany vs. England at Bloemfontein and Argentina vs. Mexico at Johannesburg on Sunday; Netherlands vs. Slovakia at Durban and Brazil vs. Chile at Johannesburg on Monday; and Paraguay vs. Japan at Pretoria and Spain vs. Portugal at Cape Town on Tuesday.

Seven players received yellow cards in the first half Of Brazil-Portugal at Durban. Both teams cooled off and settled for the draw.

Brazil wasn't taking any responsibility for the tie, saying Portugal's defensive setup prevented the much-anticipated match from being a spectacle.

"It's really boring when we have to play against an opponent with eleven players at the back, only trying to draw," Brazil striker Luis Fabiano said.

Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz said his side "advanced on its own merit and now we have to start thinking of our next matches."

David Villa and Andres Iniesta scored a goal each to help Spain beat 10-man Chile 2-1 at Pretoria. Villa scored a spectacular goal from 45 yards in the 24th minute. He kept going to a loose ball and curled a left-footed shot into an open net after goalkeeper Claudio Bravo burst forth of the area to clear the ball.



The Brazilian carnival rolled into Durban on Friday, turning the sunny Indian Ocean coastal city into Copacabana beach for a day. However, the South Americans were unable to reward their vociferous support with goals, drawing 0-0 with Portugal – a result that takes both sides through to the Round of 16.

Brazil had the first chance of a cagey, stop-start first half with a long-distance effort from the tireless Dani Alves, featuring in place of the hurt Elano on the right flank. But the Barcelona star hardly troubled Portugal goalkeeper Eduardo as his try trickled harmlessly wide of the post. He had another attain the quarter-hour mark from a similar distance, with the keeper collecting easily.

Those efforts set the tone for much of what would follow. With Robinho on the bench and Kaka suspended, Brazil were reduced to trying their luck from long range as Juilio Baptista proved unable to get much coming in the space behind strikers Nilmar and Luis Fabiano. Up the other end, Cristiano Ronaldo was ploughing a lone furrow in a defensive scheme bring about by Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz. Fabio Coentrao was the gravest man on the park for the Portuguese, bursting up the left flank and delivering inch-perfect crosses that caused the Brazilian defence some concern in the opening period. Neither Tiago nor Ronaldo coulded the best chances the Benfica wide man carved open, however.

The half-hour mark brought the clearest opening of a hard-fought first half, which produced seven yellow cards. A sneaky ball across the six-yard box from Luis Fabiano found Nilmar lurking at the back post. He rounded Ricardo Carvalho only to be denied by the upright from a tight angle. Seven minutes before the break Luis Fabiano then had a golden chance with a header from a similar position, but was unable to do justice to Dani Alves's cross.

Real Madrid ace Ronaldo, who got the biggest roar from the crowd at first, began to get himself into some dangerous areas after the restart, forcing the Brazilian back line – captain Lucio particularly – into some last-ditch tackles. His deflected free-kick from distance in the 51st minute had the fans in yellow feeling a little nervous as Portugal began to look more confident in their approach. With substitute Simao pulling the strings, Queiroz's side nearly took the cozen the hour. Ronaldo broke free on the right of the area and when Lucio made the tackle, the ball fell for Raul Meireles, who coulded to fire wide from close range.

In the end, though, a 0-0 draw was enough for both sides to move on, Brazil as Group G winners and Portugal as runners-up, pipping third-placed Republic of Cote d'Ivoire by a point. The Brazilians will now meet the second-placed team from Group H – inactiveness later in the day – with Portugal taking on that section's victors.

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Celine Doin Pregnant

Celine Dion's struggle to have one more baby has more than paid off. She's pregnant with two.

Publicist Kim Jakwerth told The Associated Press in an e-mail Sunday that the 42-year-old Canadian songstress is 14 weeks pregnant with twins, and she plans to find out the sex of the babies next month.

Dion and her husband and manager Rene Angelil have one son, 9-year-old Rene Charles.

She had undergone several rounds of in-vitro fertilization in an attempt to get pregnant again.

The pregnancy was first reported by People Magazine.

Dion is working on new albums in English and French, and returns next year to Las Vegas for a three-year residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

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