Mixed martial arts (MMA) pioneer Ken Shamrock, who earned a spot in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Hall of Fame, is not done with his combat sports endeavors just yet, recently starting his own bare-knuckle boxing promotion.
Details are scarce at the moment, but we do know the first event for Valor Bare Knuckle will be held on Sept. 21, 2019 inside 4 Bears Casino and Lodge in New Town, North Dakota, live on pay-per-view (PPV).
“I fell in love with bare knuckle in the first no-holds barred UFC promotion in 1993,” Shamrock said in a press release. “There is nothing like bare knuckle. You have to be much more accurate with your strikes, and you have to train with a specific strategy in mind.”
Bare-knuckle boxing has made a surprising comeback in recent years as fight promoters too smart or too broke to compete with UFC look for new ways to capitalize on the popularity of combat sports.
Doesn’t always work out for the best; but hey, that’s every industry.
Hopefully the 55 year-old Shamrock is merely promoting and not actually fighting, though if he does decide to step into the ring for one last hurrah, fellow UFC legend Mark “The Hammer” Coleman, 54, will be waiting.
“Ken and I are finally going to share the ring,” Coleman write on Facebook. “BKB. I will no longer have to answer if I fought the great Ken Shamrock! Modified rules!”
Expect fight announcements to start trickling in over the next few weeks.