January 28, 1996, for the vacant belt in a match that drew widespread anticipation. In an epic bout, Shamrock submitted Suzuki with a kneebar at the 22:53 mark of the fight to win the King of Pancrase interim title in front of a sellout crowd in Yokohama. Shamrock scored decision wins over Ryushu Yanagisawa and Osami Shibuya before facing off against Bas Rutten for the third time for the undisputed King of Pancrase title. Rutten won the bout via TKO due to a cut stoppage when a tired Shamrock received a knee to the forehead in a takedown attempt. Shamrock then avenged his loss to Manabu Yamada in his next bout, scoring an impressive submission win over the talented grappler. However, after his adopted brother Ken left the organization following a dispute with management, Frank was fired in retaliation. Post-Pancrase On January 17, 1997, he lost to John Lober in Hawaii's Superbrawl by split decision. Despite dominating the first three minutes of the fight, including a leglock which broke Lober's ankle and some strikes which blew out his front teeth, Shamrock's lack of cardio became a factor, and Lober was able to come back and punish him until winning the decision. After his loss, Shamrock shifted the focus of his career exclusively to mixed martial arts. Shamrock then fought top ranked Japanese fighter Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in RINGS and defeated Kohsaka by decision. Within the Lion's Den, Shamrock trained up-and-coming stars such as Jerry Bohlander, Pete Williams, and Guy Mezger. However, after a falling out with the team's management, he left and formed The Alliance team with Maurice Smith, who he developed a close relationship with. Smith trained him kickboxing along with Javier Mendez, while Shamrock taught Smith his style of submission wrestling. Later, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka himself joined the team. Cornered by The Alliance, Shamrock fought Enson Inoue in a bout in Vale Tudo Japan '97 that would determine who would fight Kevin Jackson for the newly created UFC Middleweight Championship. After an exciting back and forth battle, in which Shamrock's training proved instrumental to resist the punishment and the exhaustion, Frank knocked Inoue out with a knee, although the match was officially ruled as a disqualification win due to Enson's brother, Egan, running into the ring after Shamrock had knocked out Inoue. Shamrock later stated that this was the toughest fight in his career. Ultimate Fighting Championship After the win