Turd Ferguson
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Ken Shamrock was the very first MMA Fighter I ever had exposure to.
No, not from the WWF, but from PPV previews. Back when I was younger, I watched the PPV Preview channel sometimes and they were advertising a huge grudge match between him and Royce Gracie. I wanted to see the fight, despite not knowing anything about the two, because the way the UFC hyped the match, it made me want to see it.
And when he came to the WWF, I was an instant fan of his. I thought he was awesome and had the type of offense that I found entertaining. I wanted him to become WWF Champion, and I remember being upset when I found out he was going back to MMA. I thought he had so much left to do as far as opponents and accomplishments went.
To this day, I think that leaving the WWF at the time was a bad move for him. He had some early success in PRIDE, but as soon as he went back to the UFC to settle the score with Tito Ortiz, his career took a nosedive. He got thoroughly embarrassed by Tito on both TUF and in the three fights they had. The last fight he legitimately won was against Kimo Leopaldo in 2004. After losing to Tito in their third fight, the UFC cut him. Since then, he's been toiling in smaller organizations, expected to participate in fights and then backing out. He won again in 2009, and tested positive for steroids afterwards.
His latest fight was a loss to Pedro Rizzo in what could be described as one of the most depressing moments in MMA history. Rizzo leg-kicked Shamrock to death, to the point where he dropped to one knee, and Big John McCarthy wouldn't stop the fight. He eventually lost by leg kick TKO, and that was only because it became very apparent to Big John that Ken really couldn't continue.
After the fight, Ken said, "As long as the fans come and keep watching me, I'll keep getting beat up." Which to me is really reminiscent of Randy "The Ram" Robinson's speech in The Wrestler.
Shamrock is broke. Why else would be still be fighting despite being well past his prime? It's bad enough that the UFC is making him pay for their court fees from when he tried suing them for not honoring the last fight on his contract. It's really sad, because Ken was always more popular than his brother Frank, and I'm sure he made more money too. Frank seems very well-off right now, and he can go to sleep at night knowing he'll never have to fight again unless he wants to.
What should Shamrock do? He doesn't have money to open up another school and train fighters. With how badly his reputation has been hit these last few years, especially with what happened on TUF, nobody would probably want to learn from him anyway. He can't keep going out and fighting though. I've been a huge fan of his for literally as long as I can remember, and he shouldn't go out there and get killed for peanuts.
I honestly 100% believe that Shamrock should inquire about getting some kind of job with TNA as a wrestler. TNA seems to be open to taking any kind of person with name value... Balls Mahoney has a job there now for god's sakes. Shamrock was a damn good wrestler. He won't have to do much traveling. Most of the guys in TNA are professionals who would make sure they worked safe with him. He just needs to be in a place where he isn't going to suffer much anymore and make a colossal joke out of himself.
No, not from the WWF, but from PPV previews. Back when I was younger, I watched the PPV Preview channel sometimes and they were advertising a huge grudge match between him and Royce Gracie. I wanted to see the fight, despite not knowing anything about the two, because the way the UFC hyped the match, it made me want to see it.
And when he came to the WWF, I was an instant fan of his. I thought he was awesome and had the type of offense that I found entertaining. I wanted him to become WWF Champion, and I remember being upset when I found out he was going back to MMA. I thought he had so much left to do as far as opponents and accomplishments went.
To this day, I think that leaving the WWF at the time was a bad move for him. He had some early success in PRIDE, but as soon as he went back to the UFC to settle the score with Tito Ortiz, his career took a nosedive. He got thoroughly embarrassed by Tito on both TUF and in the three fights they had. The last fight he legitimately won was against Kimo Leopaldo in 2004. After losing to Tito in their third fight, the UFC cut him. Since then, he's been toiling in smaller organizations, expected to participate in fights and then backing out. He won again in 2009, and tested positive for steroids afterwards.
His latest fight was a loss to Pedro Rizzo in what could be described as one of the most depressing moments in MMA history. Rizzo leg-kicked Shamrock to death, to the point where he dropped to one knee, and Big John McCarthy wouldn't stop the fight. He eventually lost by leg kick TKO, and that was only because it became very apparent to Big John that Ken really couldn't continue.
After the fight, Ken said, "As long as the fans come and keep watching me, I'll keep getting beat up." Which to me is really reminiscent of Randy "The Ram" Robinson's speech in The Wrestler.
Shamrock is broke. Why else would be still be fighting despite being well past his prime? It's bad enough that the UFC is making him pay for their court fees from when he tried suing them for not honoring the last fight on his contract. It's really sad, because Ken was always more popular than his brother Frank, and I'm sure he made more money too. Frank seems very well-off right now, and he can go to sleep at night knowing he'll never have to fight again unless he wants to.
What should Shamrock do? He doesn't have money to open up another school and train fighters. With how badly his reputation has been hit these last few years, especially with what happened on TUF, nobody would probably want to learn from him anyway. He can't keep going out and fighting though. I've been a huge fan of his for literally as long as I can remember, and he shouldn't go out there and get killed for peanuts.
I honestly 100% believe that Shamrock should inquire about getting some kind of job with TNA as a wrestler. TNA seems to be open to taking any kind of person with name value... Balls Mahoney has a job there now for god's sakes. Shamrock was a damn good wrestler. He won't have to do much traveling. Most of the guys in TNA are professionals who would make sure they worked safe with him. He just needs to be in a place where he isn't going to suffer much anymore and make a colossal joke out of himself.