Frank Shamrock is an MMA legend. He is the UFC's first middleweight champion and left the organization, at the height of his popularity, undefeated inside of the octagon.

Shamrock has been very busy lately and is preparing for a big 2008 with a fight slated against Cung Le and a fight against his his brother Ken Shamrock on the horizon.

Shamrock was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to sit down with us and discuss a variety of issues including his upcoming match up against Cung Le, his strained relationship with his brother Ken, the reason why he left the UFC at the height of his fame, his triumph over a difficult childhood and much more. In part one of our three part interview with Frank Shamrock, he discusses his upcoming fight with Cung Le, the reasons he left the UFC as well as his thoughts on the current state of the worlds most popular MMA organization.

MMAFightline: You’re participating in one of the most anticipated MMA matchups of the year when you take on Cung Le this April. What are your thoughts on how the fight will go down?

Shamrock: I think he’ll stand up and run and I think he’ll take me down after I hit him a few times, try to hold me down. Unfortunately, from his side it’s probably not going to be the most exciting fight in the world. There’ll be a lot of running, shooting, grabbing but we’ll see.

MMAFightline: Do you see him avoiding the stand up game with you?

Shamrock: I think he’ll stand for distance and kick on me and stuff, but he won’t exchange with me…at least I don’t think so.

MMAFightline: How would you rate his ground game?

Shamrock: He’s a good wrestler. I don’t know about his submissions skills. I know he can’t submit me…I mean there’s not too many guys that can submit me.

MMAFightline: So do you think he poses a threat to you at all?

Shamrock: Sure! You know, anybody that’s a half decent striker…the striking games dangerous and he’s definitely got the striking skills. He could land a shot. The only people that are gonna beat me are gonna be the guys that can knock me out. We’ll see if he’s one of those guys. I don’t think so, but you never know.

MMAFightline: There is a whole generation of fight fans that never got to see you fight for the UFC in your prime. Can you tell these fans why you left the UFC?

Shamrock: Sure. At the time the sport wasn’t going anywhere and I really knew that the sport was going to be huge. And the business side of me didn’t think it was smart to keep banging myself up for nobody to see and keep breaking up my body when we were in the dark ages. You know, I just didn’t see much point to that so I got out. If no ones gonna see your art then you shouldn't keep doing it like that. I also felt that I’d done what I could in the UFC, there was certainly no one that could, at the time, beat me. And it was just time for me to do the next thing. You know, I had a family and I was running my own business and I needed to expand my own brand.