A little more than a month ago, my colleague Jonathan Snowden and I visited Ken Shamrock in San Diego.
Jonathan was there to work on a story about Shamrock’s preparations for his bout with Kimbo Slice. I was there mostly because I was curious. We’d heard he was living in a motorhome behind a gym (by choice, not because of monetary issues), and I guess I wanted to see it for myself.
Because if the idea of Shamrock facing Slice struck you as a little bit ridiculous—and it probably did, and it’s OK if that’s the case—then the notion of one of MMA‘s living legends living a spartan existence with no running water while preparing for a fight against a man most famous for his backyard brawls on YouTube?
Let’s just say that I had to see it to believe it.
We attended a San Diego Padres game with Shamrock and his family. The thing that stuck with me from that day was this: Ken Shamrock is 51 years old, and he is in better shape than I’ll ever be. He isn’t just in great shape for a 51-year-old; he’s in great shape for a person, period. For a human.
Shamrock is 51 years old, and he is doing things men half his age don’t do. And that’s amazing.
But what he shouldn’t be doing is fighting. Not anymore.
Shamrock vs. Slice—the fight we all allegedly waited seven years for—is in the books. It was the perfect endcap to a night of spectacle and ridiculousness, which Bellator (under Scott Coker) is beginning to specialize in. Shamrock, escorted to the cage by the remaining living member of the Legion of Doom, milked every bit of the pro wrestling drama he learned during his days with Vince McMahon’s circus troupe.
And, in the end, the fight resembled a well-booked pro wrestling match. Shamrock started out grappling, taking Slice down easily. He secured a rear-naked choke, of sorts; it looked more like a sleeper hold of pro wrestling fame than an actual rear-naked choke, which begs the question: Did Shamrock, after decades of grappling, forget how to execute a submission hold on a man who is absolutely hapless in the grappling department?
For a few fleeting seconds, it looked like Shamrock would actually get the job done. Slice nearly tapped, or at least appeared to be on the verge of doing so. Announcer Jimmy Smith even screamed that Slice was out, only for Slice to immediately demonstrate that he was not, in fact, out.
And then Slice fought out of the rear-naked choke, stood on his feet and punched Shamrock in the face. And Shamrock, because he is 51 years old and has a chin long past the point of expiration, crumbled immediately.
It was the end, mercifully. Nobody was hurt, and that’s a win.
And we can only hope it was truly the end, though something tells me it won’t be.
Shamrock has been knocked out eight times over the past decade, first by Rich Franklin back in 2005. He has been knocked out by Tito Ortiz and Kazushi Sakuraba and Robert Berry and Mike Bourke and, at some point along the way, his chin vanished. It is gone.
But that is to be expected from a 51-year-old man who has spent a lifetime in combat sports.
There is no shame in it. Fifty-one-year-old men don’t fight each other in cages; 51-year-old men train others to fight in cages, or they play with their children and grandchildren.
And so here’s to hoping Shamrock, legend that he is, finds his way out of the cage for the last time and settles into something a little less violent.
He is deserving of that role, and it’s difficult to imagine him not finding such a place, if only he’ll take a step back to a place where punches are not being thrown.
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