Ken Shamrock is back to NHB fighting

BeardotheWeirdo

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Hopefully he's fighting someone terrible, so he gets an easy win.

Edit: Sorry, It appears to be a pro-wrestling event.
 
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Ken vs Monson maybe?

They're both barely able to walk.
 
It's getting hard to convince kids these days that Ken was once the real deal and one of the absolute best to ever do it.
 
It's getting hard to convince kids these days that Ken was once the real deal and one of the absolute best to ever do it.
If you try telling someone who watched him only in the last 1,5 decades or so that Ken used to be a fast and explosive submission artist they'll look at you like you told them you believe in Santa.
 
Eh, I hope the Georgia Athletic Commission shuts this down.

Sounds like a potential death scenario.
 
It's getting hard to convince kids these days that Ken was once the real deal and one of the absolute best to ever do it.

Probably because he never was.

The very first MMA event I ever watched was UFC 7: The Brawl in Buffalo in 1995, where Ken Shamrock took on Oleg Taktarov in the Super Fight. Despite all the steroids Ken was on (not controversial, since he has tested positive multiple times, and him and training partners have all but admitted it) and being significantly bigger, he could do little except take Taktarov, a very average wrestler, down and land piddly, crappy GnP.

In fact, Taktarov would have gotten a kneebar against him if not for a really bad habit he had from his sambo background, keeping his head too close to Shamrock. The fight ended up as a time limit draw.

I respect Ken Shamrock as a pioneer, but his reputation always exceeded his actual fighting abilities.

In the early to mid 90's, Ken was a decent wrestler with poor striking and GnP and a very old-school submission game that worked in very early Pancrase and marginally in the early UFC but would be antiquated by 2000. When he came back from pro wrestling in 2000, his knees were shot, making him a mediocre wrestler who couldn't get takedowns anymore. His striking had improved, however, and he could throw some hard punches. However, his cardio had gotten much worse in that time as well.

Ken's best fight in MMA from the standpoint of skills is actually a loss; against Kazayuki Fujita at PRIDE 10, he did a fine job of sprawling-and-brawling and beating up Fujita before his cardio betrayed him and he had to quit.

Anyways, I know Ken Shamrock has been having money problems since the 90's thanks to his various divorces and poor spending habits. Sad he has to resort to this to make money.
 
Probably because he never was.

The very first MMA event I ever watched was UFC 7: The Brawl in Buffalo in 1995, where Ken Shamrock took on Oleg Taktarov in the Super Fight. Despite all the steroids Ken was on (not controversial, since he has tested positive multiple times, and him and training partners have all but admitted it) and being significantly bigger, he could do little except take Taktarov, a very average wrestler, down and land piddly, crappy GnP.

In fact, Taktarov would have gotten a kneebar against him if not for a really bad habit he had from his sambo background, keeping his head too close to Shamrock. The fight ended up as a time limit draw.

I respect Ken Shamrock as a pioneer, but his reputation always exceeded his actual fighting abilities.

In the early to mid 90's, Ken was a decent wrestler with poor striking and GnP and a very old-school submission game that worked in very early Pancrase and marginally in the early UFC but would be antiquated by 2000. When he came back from pro wrestling in 2000, his knees were shot, making him a mediocre wrestler who couldn't get takedowns anymore. His striking had improved, however, and he could throw some hard punches. However, his cardio had gotten much worse in that time as well.

Ken's best fight in MMA from the standpoint of skills is actually a loss; against Kazayuki Fujita at PRIDE 10, he did a fine job of sprawling-and-brawling and beating up Fujita before his cardio betrayed him and he had to quit.

Anyways, I know Ken Shamrock has been having money problems since the 90's thanks to his various divorces and poor spending habits. Sad he has to resort to this to make money.
Problem is that Ken was already past his physical prime in Pride.

Still, one thing overlooked: Ken technically neutralized Beast´s wrestling [even though Beast was past his physical prime], and that´s no small feat.

More: people shit on Ken´s striking, but he dropped Kimo [ok, past his physical prime too, and with lingering injuries] with one single knee.

The fact that Ken had a successful run in Pancrase (he was a complete noob when he got into Funaki´s gym a few months b4) is impressive.

One of Ken´s problem was that he didnt seem able to adapt his game to a specific fight configuration & organization.
He was jumping from org to org, and wasnt aware of it.
That´s why he basically fought Hoyce 1 with a Pancrase mindset.
 
Problem is that Ken was already past his physical prime in Pride.

Still, one thing overlooked: Ken technically neutralized Beast´s wrestling [even though Beast was past his physical prime], and that´s no small feat.

More: people shit on Ken´s striking, but he dropped Kimo [ok, past his physical prime too, and with lingering injuries] with one single knee.

You're mixing and matching versions of Ken here, though. You're taking his wrestling from the mid 90's, when his striking was poor, and pairing it with his striking from the very early 2000s, when his wrestling had degraded.

Yes, if you could magically combine the wrestling and cardio from early Ken with the striking from later Ken, you would have a much better fighter, but that's all just a pipe dream.

The fact that Ken had a successful run in Pancrase (he was a complete noob when he got into Funaki´s gym a few months b4)

Not true. He had some submission wrestling training with Fujiwara Gumi, even if the fights there were pre-determined. Ken had been training shoot wrestling for at least a year before his first match in Pancrase.

is impressive.

Yes and no. Early Pancrase kind of sucked, and the deficiencies of their style were exposed when Royce Gracie, who was probably only legitimately of purple belt caliber back then (according to his own family members and friends) tooled him at UFC 1.

Quite a few of Ken's victories in Pancrase were works (pre-determined) too, such as his second "victory" against a green Bas Rutten.
 
You're mixing and matching versions of Ken here, though. You're taking his wrestling from the mid 90's, when his striking was poor, and pairing it with his striking from the very early 2000s, when his wrestling had degraded.

Yes, if you could magically combine the wrestling and cardio from early Ken with the striking from later Ken, you would have a much better fighter, but that's all just a pipe dream.



Not true. He had some submission wrestling training with Fujiwara Gumi, even if the fights there were pre-determined. Ken had been training shoot wrestling for at least a year before his first match in Pancrase.



Yes and no. Early Pancrase kind of sucked, and the deficiencies of their style were exposed when Royce Gracie, who was probably only legitimately of purple belt caliber back then (according to his own family members and friends) tooled him at UFC 1.

Quite a few of Ken's victories in Pancrase were works (pre-determined) too, such as his second "victory" against a green Bas Rutten.
Mixing? Hardly.. Im assessing his skill set & what he showcased against different skill sets.

I said a 'noob', when he entered in Funaki´s gym (he got completely schooled and bullied in the 1st sparring sessions vs Funaki)

Early Pancrase hardly 'sucked'...?
The transitional era from the NHB/Vale Tudo days to Modern MMA saw the creation of modern teams.
By the end of the 1990s, new organizations tried to promote a certain evolution, more technical: a talented generation was willing to create cross-training teams,and adapt their game to a new fight configuration, technically more demanding. Early Pancrase & Rings were essential orgz in that transitional era.

Almost everybody, except Funaki & Suzuki, was 'green' in Pancrase, learning the ground game.

This is what happened in UFC 1, realistically:

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/deconstructing-mma-myths-part-1-hoyce-ufc-1.3734725/


Btw, works in Pancrase were limited. Dont mix 'work' with 'carry-job'.
 
Ultimate Bar Brawl
Tank Abbott as a special quest
 
My son saw 1-31-19 and asked if that was his record.
 
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