The Weekly Wrap: Jan. 9 - Jan. 15

Odds and Ends

• Bob Shamrock, father to Ken and Frank Shamrock, died Jan. 14 from Diabetes complications. He was 68.

Shamrock was a fixture in the formative days of the UFC, accompanying Ken Shamrock to his fights on the first few pay-per-view events. He brought both Ken and Frank into his Shamrock Boys Home, a home for delinquent youth in Susanville, Calif. Ken Wayne Nance came to the home at age 13 and was legally adopted in 1982. The home encouraged boys to compete in a variety of sports.

Another figure linked with the early era of the UFC passed away on Jan. 8. Tony Halme, a former professional wrestler, boxer and power lifter, as well as the first UFC opponent of Randy Couture, was found dead of an apparent suicide in Finland. Halme lost to Couture at UFC 13 in 1997 via rear-naked choke.

• Former NFL standout Herschel Walker earned the Jan. 30 Strikeforce “Miami” show widespread press during a media tour, appearing on several sports programs, including ESPN “First Take,” ESPN News, Fox and Friends and The Howard Stern Show. Walker, who has been training with the American Kickboxing Academy, talked of surviving on salad, soup, bread and water as he trains for his professional MMA debut. He will face Arizona fighter Greg Nagy at heavyweight. Walker, 47, pledged to donate his MMA earnings to charity.

Another heavyweight set to compete on the card, Bobby Lashley, remains without an opponent. Strikeforce had selected Yohan Banks as an opponent, but Florida’s boxing commission declined to sanction the bout. Banks lost via knockout in 18 seconds at a Strikeforce show last year. MMAJunkie.com reported that Jimmy Ambriz was now under consideration.

• There are rumblings that Roger Huerta and Josh Barnett are close to signing with Strikeforce. Huerta, who fought the last bout on his UFC contract against Gray Maynard in September, posted on his Twitter page that his next fight will be in Strikeforce. MMAJunkie.com reported that Huerta’s UFC contract contains a clause that allows the UFC to match any offer he receives until November.

• Shinzo Machida, the younger brother of UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida, is in talks to compete in the WEC, according to a posting from Jorge Guimares on the Fighters Only Web site. Machida, a Shotokan karate black belt who has two MMA fights -- a win and a loss -- on his resume, is thought to compete at lightweight. His win came via soccer kicks, and his loss via guillotine choke.

• Dream champion Shinya Aoki was fired from his instructor position at the Paraestra Tokyo gym in response to his actions following his arm-breaking submission win over Mizuto Hirota at K-1 “Dynamite!” on New Year’s Eve. Aoki gave Hirota the finger afterward. His antics made the cover of the sports newspaper Kamipro under the headline “NYE Madness.”

• Bellator Fighting Championships bolstered its featherweight roster with the signings of undefeated Brazilian prospect Patricio “Pitbull” Freire and Strikeforce and World Extreme Cagefighting veteran Bao Quach. Bellator’s second season launches in April.

• Longtime lightweight staple and former UFC title challenger Hermes Franca, 35, announced his retirement from the sport after suffering a first-round technical knockout loss to unheralded Eric Wisely at a Max Fights DM show in Iowa on Jan. 8. Franca was trying to rebound from only the second KO loss of his 10-year career, which came against Tyson Griffin at UFC 103 in September.

• UFC hall of famer Chuck Liddell has landed a role in the upcoming film “Passion Play,” starring Hollywood luminaries Mickey Rourke and Megan Fox. The film, directed by Mitch Glazer, is about “an angel under the thumb of a ruthless gangster” who “is saved by a trumpet player down on his luck,” according to IMDB.com. It remains unclear when the film would begin shooting. Liddell will soon begin shooting “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 11 as a coach opposite Tito Ortiz, with the series premiering on March 31. Liddell is expected to return to fight Ortiz in the summer after the series airs.

Liddell was also in the news for being on a list of creditors claiming they were bilked out of millions of dollars by a California property developer. According to press reports, Liddell claims he was defrauded $1.5 million in a bad deal to buy property from the developer, property for which titles were never received.

• The Nevada State Athletic Commission reported final business numbers of the UFC’s first card of the year, UFC 108 on Jan. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The UFC sold 8,004 tickets for a $1.96 million gate and comped 4,373 tickets worth $1 million. The paid/comped gap is significantly smaller than the typical UFC show in Las Vegas. The Wrestling Observer reports that the trending patterns indicate the injury-riddled card did 255,000 to 270,000 buys on pay-per-view, which would be the UFC’s lowest numbers in several years.