» Fighter: Ken Shamrock

EliteXC has confirmed several bouts for the 4 October event to air on CBS’s Saturday Night Fights, happening at the BankAtlantic Center near Fort Lauderdale, FL.

UFC Hall of Famer and “World’s Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock (26-13-2) was named as “Kimbo Slice” Kevin Ferguson’s (3-0) opponent for the night’s main event.

Fighters.com’s third-ranked welterweight Jake Shields (21-4-1) will defend his EliteXC title for the first time against Brit “Semtex” Paul Daley (18-6-2).

Benji Radach (18-4) will make his EliteXC debut against “Ninja” Murilo Rua (16-8-1) in a middleweight match-up.

Read More About Shields to Defend Semtex’s Explosion at EliteXC, Slice Draws Shamrock…

In a Q’n'A with British Newspaper The Sun, Fighters.com’s ninth-ranked light heavyweight “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz claimed, “My hardest fight was with Randy Couture.  He beat me in a five-round decision and he took my championship belt from me and it really, really sucks.  I had so much training and it was a terrible loss.”

Ortiz and “The Natural” Randy Couture (16-8) cranked out five rounds in September 2003 while Ortiz was at the top of his game, having dispatched six consecutive challengers with names such as tenth-ranked light heavyweight “The Axe Murderer” Wanderlei Silva (31-8-1), Yuki Kondo (48-21-6), IFL Light Heavyweight Champion “The Janitor” Vladimir Matyushenko (21-3), and MMA pioneer “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock (26-13-2).

Ortiz also paid respects to Shamrock and Royce Gracie (14-3-3).

“The first thing I really looked at was Royce and Ken Shamrock – they were the two big names in the UFC, great athletes.

“Royce was the guy who was submitting all the wrestling guys with them being on top.

“I really look up to him – if it wasn’t for him our sport wouldn’t be where it is now. Royce, myself, Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock, Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell are the names that built the sport that is today.”

“The World’s Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock (26-13-2) filed a lawsuit against Zuffa, L.L.C., the parent company of the UFC, in the Eighth Judicial District Court of Clark County, Nevada Tuesday 15 April.

If Zuffa’s legal tangles with “The Natural” Randy Couture (16-8) can be described as Couture wanting leave the UFC without retiring, Zuffa’s latest court battle will be because allegedly Shamrock retired without leaving.

The suit seeks retribution for breach of contract under terms similar to those being hashed out with Couture.

Shamrock claims that after losing controversially to “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz (15-5-1) at UFC 61, the UFC approached him with a two-fight contract. The first fight would be a rematch with Ortiz, which took place on SpikeTV 10 October, 2006.

After losing the rematch, Shamrock retired.

Shamrock insists the UFC invoked the same clause that the UFC claims preserves their right to Couture through Couture’s refusal to fight, which the UFC calls “retirement” and Couture calls “resignation.” The clause suspends the remaining term of the contract while the fighter is in retirement.

Shamrock alleges he came out of retirement in June 2007 and informed the UFC he was training to complete his contract.

According to the lawsuit, UFC President Dana White informed Shamrock’s agent that the UFC was changing it’s election to suspend Shamrock’s contract to another election provided for in the contract which would terminate the contract.

Shamrock claims that the UFC could have changed their election during Shamrock’s retirement, but not after his return from retirement, at which time Shamrock alleges he would’ve still been under contract to the UFC due to their original election to suspend and not terminate the contract.

Shamrock seeks damages in excess of $10,000.

Last Saturday I quizzed “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock (26-13-2) about when it’s time to hang-up his four ounce gloves.

“When I can’t beat mid-level guys.  I’m not going to let myself get beat by mediocre fighters,” Shamrock confided.

Saturday at CageRage 25 in London, “Buzz” Robert Berry (12-7) knocked out Shamrock at 3:26 of round one.

“He comes to fight,” Shamrock had described Berry; and, it’s likely this loss won’t convince the king of the Lion’s Den to retire.

Shamrock is 3-8 since his Y2K return to MMA.  He’s lost five consecutive fights by first round stoppage since TKOing Kimo Leopoldo at UFC 48 in 2004.

Ken won’t retire because he’s a fighter with fight left in him.  He won’t retire because, even after four consecutive losses, he still headlines a card; and, after five straight losses, his next fight will be a main event too.  He won’t retire because we still pay to watch him fight, because our memory of Shamrock at his best continues to eclipse Shamrock at this, his worst.

The “Ashikan Judan” Masakazu Imanari (14-5-1) earned his stage name by twisting “White Bear” Jean Silva’s (15-8-3) foot in a heel hook at 2:30 of round one for the CageRage World Featherweight Championship.

British heavyweight Rob Broughton (7-3-1) dealt undefeated Neil Grove (5-1) his first “L” in a majority decision.

Middleweight “Kong” Tom Watson beat Pierre Guillet to a TKO at 2:05 of round one.

Heavyweight Mustapha al Turk (5-3) submitted kickboxer Gary Turner (4-1) on strikes at 3:19 of round one.

Heavyweight Ivan Serati (8-2) stopped Roman Webber (4-4) at :48 of round one.

Brazilian “Lagartixa” Henrique Santana (5-3) won a unanimous decision over England’s Michael Johnson (5-5).

Giorgio Andrews (3-0) made it a tough night for the Shamrocks by winning a TKO over Ken’s son Ryan Shamrock (1-1) after Ryan broke his hand in the first round.

Undefeated John Hathaway remained so with a TKO of Marvin Arnold Bleau at 1:32 of round one.

Finally, John Phillips (7-1) opened the night with a TKO of Jake Bostwick at 4:10 of round one.

At 44-years old, UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock (26-12-2) is still trying “to see the world” by fighting he confided from an airport terminal awaiting his flight to London.

Shamrock is no longer “The World’s Most Dangerous Man”, as he’s billed in his CageRage debut versus “Buzz” Robert Berry (12-7) Saturday.

But, there was a time he damn well may have been.

“[In 1993] a student of mine brought me a flier [calling for fighters for UFC 1],” Shamrock remembers.

At the time, Shamrock was wrestling in Japan’s Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi, mentored by wrestling legends Masakatsu Funaki, Karl Gotch, and Yoshiaki Fujiwara.

Wrestling in Japan had avoided most of the kitsch of American pro wrestling.  His mentors taught Shamrock shoot wrestling, very real and effective submission techniques.

In 1993, Funaki founded a hybrid wrestling promotion called Pancrase.

“It wasn’t MMA,” Shamrock emphasizes.  “We used open-hand strikes and shin guards when kicking.”

In Pancrase’s first event in September 1993, Shamrock submitted Funaki in six minutes.  It was a testament to how far the former Tough Man competitor had come.

“What we did at UFC 1 was what you see today,” Shamrock traces MMA’s lineage.  “That was the beginning.

“Every time I had seen a no holds barred tournament, it was just for entertainment, you know?  In wrestling, it meant you could bring chairs in the ring.  It was ridiculous.  So, I was skeptical,” Shamrock explains.  “But, reality fighting, that’s what attracted me to the tournament.”

“We didn’t know until three days before that it was definitely happening.”

In the first round of UFC 1, the wrestler easily submitted kickboxer Patrick Smith (14-13) in a heel hook at 1:49.

After the fight, Shamrock was asked to compare UFC 1 to what he had been doing every month in Pancrase.

“This is easier,” he proclaimed brashly.  “This guy doesn’t know submissions.”

His confidence may have been his downfall in his second fight of the tournament.

“I didn’t know who Royce Gracie was,” Shamrock admits.  “When I saw him in his gi, I thought he was some karate guy.”

The eventual tournament winner, Gracie (14-3-3), submitted Shamrock in a rear naked choke in 57 seconds.

“It was setup for him to win,” Shamrock complains.  “I wasn’t allowed to wear my wrestling shoes, but he was allowed to wear his gi.

“You can watch it and see that I slip going for a leg lock and [Royce Gracie] wraps his gi around my neck for the choke.”

Shamrock went on after UFC 1 to bag wins versus a pantheon of fighters including Matt Hume (5-5), “El Guapo” Bas Rutten (28-4-1), and “Mo” Maurice Smith (12-10).

At UFC 5 in 1995, he’d get his revenge versus Gracie in a “Superfight”, this time knowing fully what to expect from the BJJ and MMA legend.  After 36:06, the fight was declared a draw.

The world’s most dangerous man?  Gracie had no answer for the wrestler after twice as long as any other MMA fight Gracie had previously participated in.

If Shamrock wasn’t the most dangerous man in the world, at that point he was at least as dangerous as Gracie, considered then to be the top reality fighter in the world.

Saturday, Shamrock makes his British debut.  A victory over Berry leads Shamrock to another accomplishment: MMA’s first American network television main event on CBS versus Kimbo Slice.