Bellator is going back to the past for its main event on February 19, with Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie locking horns for the third time in their illustrious mixed martial arts careers to settle a rivalry that spans 23 years.
Shamrock and Gracie first met in the semifinals at UFC 1 in 1993, which was back when UFC had tournaments on its pay-per-view shows. Their most recent bout was a draw at UFC 5 two years later, though both competitors would go on to have Hall of Fame careers.
These aren’t the same athletes from their prime years, but Shamrock and Gracie are legends in the sport capable of putting on a show for the masses.
Before the moment of truth arrives Friday, let’s look back at the respective careers of Shamrock and Gracie.
Ken Shamrock Highlights
In the days before UFC had official weight-class designations, its championship was known as the superfight title.
Shamrock became the first superfight champion in UFC history when he defeated Dan Severn at UFC 6 in July 1995. However, the title was initially supposed to be decided in the first bout between Shamrock and Gracie at UFC 5 four months earlier.
That fight remains the longest in UFC history, taking 36 minutes with no winner declared because there were no judges.
Those were back in the days before UFC had five-minute rounds, instead using 20-minute time limits for quarterfinal and semifinal matches and a 30-minute limit for the finals and superfights.
Since neither Shamrock nor Gracie were able to put the other away before the 30 minutes went by, additional time was added before the match was eventually ruled a draw.
Examining Shamrock’s career, even though he’s built like a mack truck, his greatest success came on the ground, with 23 submission victories. He’s never been a powerful striker but does utilize his strength to set up the ground game.
The problem for Shamrock in his rivalry with Gracie is the Brazilian Hall of Famer happens to be one of the greatest submission artists in MMA history, negating Shamrock’s strengths as a fighter, which helps explain why he has yet to score a victory in their previous two matches.
Royce Gracie Highlights
Friday night is a historic one for mixed martial arts. Gracie, who along with Shamrock was part of the inaugural UFC Hall of Fame class, has not fought since 2007, when he defeated Kazushi Sakuraba at the age of 40.
That was also a memorable event for Gracie, though not in a good way, because he was subsequently fined and suspended after testing positive for steroids. It wasn’t a vintage performance, though that was to be expected for a 40-year-old who hadn’t fought more than one year at the time.
One of the last truly captivating performances from Gracie came at the 2004 K-1 Premium Dynamite event on New Year’s Eve against Akebono Taro:
That victory over Taro also happens to be Gracie’s last by submission heading into Friday. Yet if younger fans want to know exactly what the Brazilian jiu-jitsu sensation was like in his prime, UFC has evidence from his bout with Kimo Leopoldo at UFC 3:
There has never been a better BJJ practitioner in MMA history than Gracie, who owns a 12-0 record in fights decided by submission and won his first 11 matches in UFC by submission.
Gracie will certainly show some rust having been out of the cage for nearly nine years, yet the ground game is built into the family’s blood. He could fall out of bed tomorrow and submit a professional fighter before brushing his teeth.
As long as Gracie doesn’t try to trade with Shamrock, who doesn’t need to be a great knockout artist against a 49-year-old, his return to mixed martial arts should be a successful one.
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