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By Jonathan Snowden

While promoters in MMA typically follow the pro wrestling model with a huge emphasis on promotional branding and over-the-top feuds, some of the sport’s biggest stars have quietly been studying their sister sport of boxing. In boxing, there is no brand that attracts an audience. The fighters are the stars and people pay to see Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad, not a “Don King Production.”

The role model for fighters everywhere looking to take control of their career, and their finances, is Oscar De La Hoya. De La Hoya used his own celebrity and drawing power to create his own company, Golden Boy Promotions. Now instead of a simple fight purse, Oscar gets a piece of the whole pie. He gets a cut from the PPV gross, the gate, the site fee the casino pays, the foreign broadcast rights, ringside advertising, closed circuit, everything. “You know, being a promoter now, it’s kind of like opening the door and finding out what really is inside the house, so to speak. You know, a fighter doesn’t know what’s going on when it comes to how to promote a fight and where the money comes from and now that I’ve been a promoter for four years, I’ve learned the insights of how this boxing world really works,” De La Hoya told doghouseboxing.com. “And one of the main reasons why I turned promoter is to educate the fighter and little by little, with my company, we can hopefully educate the fighters and the way they handle their careers.”

De La Hoya doesn’t have opponents, he has partners. Bernard Hopkins is now the president of Golden Boy East. Shane Mosley is president of fighter relations. These fighters are determined to take their name value and use it to make every penny possible in the waning years of their careers, while at the same time building a stable of younger World Champions to follow in their footsteps.

Frank Shamrock has been watching De La Hoya closely and is ready to make his own leap. After he completes his commitments to Strikeforce and EliteXC he will be ready to make the giant jump from fighter to promoter. The fight that he thinks is attractive enough to draw the money he needs to go it alone has been announced: Brother versus brother. Frank Shamrock versus Ken Shamrock.

“I think it’s going to be the event that opens MMA up to the mainstream world. And that’s brother versus brother. We’ve got a quarter and a year so far, when we’re going to do it and that’s first quarter of 09,” Frank said. “We’re talking to every major network and distributor and arena. We’re going to change the way that mixed martial arts is promoted and also the way that the talent are paid. Right now the companies own everything. They own the show, they own the fighters, they own the distribution, they own the product. They own everything. These guys go in as basically hired talent, so they go in and fight and walk away with whatever purse is negotiated.”

Brother versus brother is a powerful story, as old as the first fight in human history, Cain killing Abel. Critics think the brother aspect will turn fans off, but to Frank it’s what makes it so compelling. “I think it’s going to draw a bigger fan-base, people who don’t know anything at all about a Mixed Martial Arts event and now hear about this idea,” Frank said. “It’s a powerful story and a once in a lifetime event. If you think about it, UFC was launched on a question. Who would win between each martial art? We’re asking a question again only now, it’s brothers. And it’s brothers that are already famous and have already built the sport.”

Even though the two men legitimately don’t like each other, it hasn’t stopped them from coming together and making the best deal possible. Both are known as mavericks, men willing to speak their minds and get the most they can out of promoters. It would be easy to sell this fight to Elite XC or another organization. The names involved are big enough for them to have made a pretty penny and promoters are interested. “I’ve been looking at that fight since I met Frank Shamrock, and I’m continuing to look at it and trying to get it done,” Elite XC promoter Gary Shaw told ProElite.com “I don’t think it’s a negative image. I think that what’s great about mixed martial arts is the different disciplines. So to me, this is a fight that I think both Shamrocks would like, and I think it’s a fight that would serve the public. You’re not asking a man to go in against his mother. This is two brothers, both professionals. It’s not an amateur against a professional. To me, blood brothers — nothing better.” Instead the adopted brothers have chosen to go it alone.

” Ken and I are going in to this as partners. And we’re going to present it, hire the promoter, hire a distributor and keep the lion’s share for ourselves because I think that’s the new paradigm for mixed martial arts,” Frank said. “It’s silly that these guys are stuck in these six year contracts where their going to make, if they’re lucky, $30,000 a year fighting. I think the UFC is taking horrible advantage of people, especially since they’re making hundreds of millions of dollars on pay per view. I think it’s time for a shift.”

The fight itself seems almost an afterthought compared to the seismic shift of the new business model the Shamrocks are creating. Frank is confident he will win the fight rather easily. “Ken’s stuck in the old ways, the old style. With my ability to move fluidly and effectively and efficiently, Ken will get banged, try to take me down and ground and pound me, I’ll slip out and choke him unconscious.” Ken sees it differently. He beat Frank up for years when they trained together and doesn’t think anything has changed. “He walks around saying he’s the Lion’s Den guy and this and that. He was probably my third best guy when I was training them all, behind Bohlander and Mezger,” Ken told irishwhipfighting.com. “Also, Frank has problems against people who can take him down and he knows I would take him down. Look at his fight against Renzo. I can knock him down and punch him out.”

Both have warmup fights before they go after each other. Frank will fight the very tough Cung Le March 29 th for Strikeforce, while Ken travels to the UK to take on journeyman Robert Berry for Cage Rage. Conventional wisdom says that it’s hard to sell fighters coming of off a loss and there is a distinct possibility that both men will be on a losing streak coming in to the fight. Yet, the Shamrock brand name seems impervious to losses. People just like watching them fight.

“I’m sure it would take some value from it, but my brand, the way I market, the way I present myself, and my fanbase, they’ve never been diminished by a loss,” FrankShamrock said. “People respect what I do and how I do it. If I create it, they show up.”

Ken Shamrock has always been an innovator, starting the sport in Pancrase and the UFC, creating the first successful fighter house and fight team, and making himself a mainstream name. If the fight is a success, it could be a template for other fighters who are unhappy with the table scraps offered by Zuffa and other promoters, fighters like Randy Couture. Once again, Ken would be leading the way for the sport to follow, a final gift to the fighters in the MMA world.

“I think Ken is probably looking at this as an exit strategy. For me it’s just a beginning. I’ve got ten more years planned and 20 more fights. So, I’m just starting out. I’m 35 and I’ll retire when I’m 45. The beauty of it is, I work out everyday, for me it’s a way of life, it’s not a job or something that I go to and do. I’m a martial artist,” Frank said. “Everyday I train my body, and I train my mind, and I get a little bit better every single day. I’m only getting better, I’m only getting smarter and I’m only getting healthier.”