Tag: Interview

[VIDEO] Jon Jones Finally Speaks About Accident, Suspension, + Vitor Belfort’s “Sketchy” UFC 152 Drug Test


(While not without his faults, Jones remains a much better role model than Peyton Manning.) 

It has been an…eventful six months for former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, or at least, that’s how he describes them in his recent interview with Ariel Helwani. I’ll spare you all the readily available details, but suffice it to say, Jones has screwed up, repeatedly, and it’s cost him nearly everything.

But finally, it appears the maybe, just maybe, his past mistakes are having an effect on his present mindset. With his UFC suspension now lifted and his court case settled, Jones has rededicated himself to recapturing his belt, and the results thus far have been astounding. He may have a long way to go still to earn back our respect, but with the lengthy interview after the jump, he’s at least taking the first step and accepting the blame for what he’s done.

Video after the jump. 

The post [VIDEO] Jon Jones Finally Speaks About Accident, Suspension, + Vitor Belfort’s “Sketchy” UFC 152 Drug Test appeared first on Cagepotato.


(While not without his faults, Jones remains a much better role model than Peyton Manning.) 

It has been an…eventful six months for former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, or at least, that’s how he describes them in his recent interview with Ariel Helwani. I’ll spare you all the readily available details, but suffice it to say, Jones has screwed up, repeatedly, and it’s cost him nearly everything.

But finally, it appears the maybe, just maybe, his past mistakes are having an effect on his present mindset. With his UFC suspension now lifted and his court case settled, Jones has rededicated himself to recapturing his belt, and the results thus far have been astounding. He may have a long way to go still to earn back our respect, but with the lengthy interview after the jump, he’s at least taking the first step and accepting the blame for what he’s done.

Video after the jump. 

Perhaps the most interesting takeaway from this interview was not Jones’ retelling of his hit-and-run accident (17:00), or his vehement denial that he “likes coke” (42:00) but his accusation that the UFC was aware of Vitor Belfort’s now infamously sketchy pre-UFC 152 drug test (45:10).

Vitor Belfort was on steroids when I fought him. The UFC was very well aware, way before the fight. They did nothing to penalize him. They let the fight go on knowing that I was fighting a guy on steroids, which is a hazard to my life. What do you do?

I haven’t brought it up to them yet, but the fans know. The power of the UFC and this Athletic Commission, eventually something needs to be done about it. To know that they put me in there with him, knowing that he was on something, it’s really a slap to the face.

I would like to be more of a company guy and do things right, but at the same time, I’ve been bent over quite a few times by them. It’s just like…it’s hard to see where I stand man. I just hope the fans are aware of some of the shenanigans they pull.

I don’t know about you guys, but I am shocked — SHOCKED I tells ya! — that the UFC would be willing to potentially put one of their own athletes in a dangerous situation to make something as frivolous as money. Ick, you guys. Ick.

Check out the entire interview if you’ve got the time, and let us know if you think that the redemption of Jon Jones is something you’ll ever be able to get behind.

The post [VIDEO] Jon Jones Finally Speaks About Accident, Suspension, + Vitor Belfort’s “Sketchy” UFC 152 Drug Test appeared first on Cagepotato.

Quote(s) of the Day: Urijah Faber Lobs Racist, Sexist, Basically Everything-ist Accusations at Duane Ludwig

(I only counted 280 “likes” and 372 “dudes.” No way that was actually Faber on the phone. via MMAFighting)

So as we all know, the fallout between Duane Ludwig and Team Alpha Male — specifically, TAM leader Urijah Faber — has been a bit heated, with both sides lobbing some pretty strong accusations at one another. First, Ludwig claimed that TJ Dillashaw was the only fighter on the team who trained “like a champion.” Faber then hit back, calling Ludwig “difficult to deal with” and his eventual departure from the team “a breath of fresh air.”

Recently, Ludwig attempted to apologize for his comments, while maintaining that Dillashaw “trained differently” than the rest of TAM.

“I say some stupid stuff sometimes,” Ludwig said. “And they’re training at their full potential. T.J. just really wants it. If you look at it in comparison, there’s a difference. You can just see it, you can feel it. And it’s just different with T.J.”

When asked to respond to Ludwig’s quote unquote apology on yesterday’s MMA Hour, Faber had had enough, it seemed, and unleashed a barrage of harsh claims Ludwig’s way in a lengthy, eye-opening interview.

The post Quote(s) of the Day: Urijah Faber Lobs Racist, Sexist, Basically Everything-ist Accusations at Duane Ludwig appeared first on Cagepotato.


(I only counted 280 “likes” and 372 “dudes.” No way that was actually Faber on the phone. via MMAFighting)

So as we all know, the fallout between Duane Ludwig and Team Alpha Male — specifically, TAM leader Urijah Faber — has been a bit heated, with both sides lobbing some pretty strong accusations at one another. First, Ludwig claimed that TJ Dillashaw was the only fighter on the team who trained “like a champion.” Faber then hit back, calling Ludwig “difficult to deal with” and his eventual departure from the team “a breath of fresh air.”

Recently, Ludwig attempted to apologize for his comments, while maintaining that Dillashaw “trained differently” than the rest of TAM.

“I say some stupid stuff sometimes,” Ludwig said. “And they’re training at their full potential. T.J. just really wants it. If you look at it in comparison, there’s a difference. You can just see it, you can feel it. And it’s just different with T.J.”

When asked to respond to Ludwig’s quote unquote apology on yesterday’s MMA Hour, Faber had had enough, it seemed, and unleashed a barrage of harsh claims Ludwig’s way in a lengthy, eye-opening interview.

Accusation #1: Ludwig is a sexist who refuses to work with women

“I had a girl from Alaska who said that Duane keeps on saying these comments. And first off, Duane refused to work with any females. He said, ‘I just want to tell you, I’m not supportive of women’s MMA. I won’t be working with anybody, I won’t be working with Paige (VanZant), I’m not going to be working with Nicky, I’m not going to work with Veronica. I don’t believe in it.’ Okay. That was an issue.”

Accusation #2: Ludwig has a penchant for making racist jokes

“The second thing was, he was saying racial things. And that’s what I’m saying when I say, things aren’t jokes just because you laughed at them, especially if they’re hurtful. So I had two of the African-American guys on our team who approached me and said, ‘this is getting real uncomfortable. It’s funny one time, I guess, when he says stuff like, all the black guys at the end of the line. But he’s saying it every single day.’ Then one guy says, ‘every single time I’m in the gym and I’m talking to a girl, Duane yells across the gym, hey, so-and-so, all black guys 25 feet away from the females.’ He says, ‘I get it, he thinks it’s funny, whatever. But he keeps doing it and it’s really getting on my nerves.’”

Accusation #3: Ludwig’s financial instability has made him a monster

“He’s getting his salary, then he starts charging everybody for privates. And there’s a point where T.J. (Dillashaw) is like, ‘man, I don’t know what to do. Duane is bleeding me. I’m doing his videos for him after class, I’m doing this, and he’s still charging me for privates. I need to have a talk with him.’ T.J. has a talk with him. He’s charging everyone, and I feel bad for [Ludwig]. He’s selling peanut butter at the front desk, he’s doing all these things to make extra cash, he’s leaving every single weekend to go do a seminar, even if it’s for a couple hundred bucks. I’m like dude, I appreciate the hustle, but let’s just settle down. Let’s let the apple grow into a ripe, red apple before you start trying to pull it off the tree when it’s green and sour. Give it some time.

“So then it comes to my first fight that he corners me. I have my partner Scott who’s in Texas who owns Torque, and so Duane wants to wear his own shirt in my corner with a conflicting brand, Fear the Fighter, instead of Torque. … I said, ‘Duane, dude, my partner is going to be pissed off. Like, you didn’t okay this with him if you wear another brand. No one talked to him, he’s going to be pissed. Can you wear like a Duane Bang shirt or one of the other sponsors or something like that?’ This is 30 minutes before I’m about to go fight my fight. I said, ‘here dude, here’s this phone number. If you can call and get the okay from him’ — granted, this is 30 minutes before I’m about to go out and fight, and this is the first time having him in the corner — ‘if you can talk to my partner and get him to okay wearing the shirt, then you’re good.’

“Apparently, I didn’t find this out until afterward, he tries to shake down my partner for $300. He’s trying to get my guy to pay him $300 to wear my shirt, this and that. I didn’t know until way later when my partner told me, and it just baffled me.

In addition to all this, Faber also called Ludwig a “bully” and “tyrant” who is threatening trying to sue Team Alpha Male for not fulfilling a contract which he himself refused to sign.

While I’m not quite prepared to throw Ludwig under the bus based on hearsay, even though Faber has always struck me as stand-up, honest guy, an r/MMA thread has compiled a few things of note that certainly don’t help Ludwig’s case here.

Example #1: During the interview, Faber repeatedly brought up the notion that Ludwig is a very emotionally unstable guy, especially so when he’s interrupted. Knowing that, check out how Ludwig reacts when Joe Rogan dares to interrupt him during his appearance  appearance on Rogan’s podcast back in August of 2013. The first instance happens at 47:08 in (queued up below) and the second just over a minute later (at 48:41).

Brian Redban’s reaction to this act of insolence is just priceless.

Example #2: Faber also recounted a story about Ludwig’s first time cornering a TAM member — Danny Castillo at UFC on FUEL 7 — which is cringe worthy to say the least. Apparently Ludwig, broke and sponsorless (minus a peanut butter company who was allegedly paying him in their product), showed up to the event offering to wear the signature shirt of any fighter competing on the card for $250, regardless of the fact that he was cornering Castillo. According to Faber, Ludwig hawked his services as close to half an hour before Castillo’s fight with Paul Sass.

Here’s an interview with Ludwig from that night. You’ll notice he is wearing a Tom “Kong” Watson shirt. Tom Watson competed at FUEL TV 7 just two fights before Danny Castillo.

There’s also the fact that Ludwig’s reaction to Faber’s comments in a follow-up interview with MMAFighting today didn’t exactly paint him as an innocent party.

On the sexism accusations: “I wouldn’t say I’m against women’s MMA. I do feel uneasy seeing a woman get punched in the face. That, I don’t like. Women’s grappling and wrestling, that’s cool. But seeing a woman punched in the face, I don’t really necessarily like that. There’s awesome women’s fights, but it still makes me feel a bit weird. But yeah, I don’t like to train women.”

On the racism accusations: “I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about. There’s jokes floating around the gym all the time. For him to point me out, like what the hell dude?”

On the financial issues with TAM: ”We definitely had a couple lapses. Every time we talked I thought one thing was said and then apparently something else was said. So there’s multiple times when we had what I thought were agreements and the result was always me getting short-handed. I don’t get it. That’s why we always had problems, because we always had a conversation, we’d agree on certain things and when it came time for certain things to happen, they wouldn’t.”

Again, there’s a lot of he said/she said going on here, but if it was me who had just been accused of being an emotionally unstable racist/sexist with financial issues, I might have brought a stronger counter-argument to the table than, “What the hell dude?” Again, this is just me. But what say you, Nation? Do you find any truth in Faber’s accusations, or is it just another case of egos clashing?

The post Quote(s) of the Day: Urijah Faber Lobs Racist, Sexist, Basically Everything-ist Accusations at Duane Ludwig appeared first on Cagepotato.

Interview: UFC Champ TJ Dillashaw “Could Absolutely Take Ronda Rousey”


(via Getty.)

Team Alpha Male’s TJ Dillashaw has had perhaps one of the quickest and most unexpected rises to greatness in the sport’s history. In just over a year, he has gone from the guy that P4P king Renan Barao was going to eat for lunch to the UFC’s reigning bantamweight champion and a top pound-for-pounder in his own right. On the heels of a vicious shellacking of Barao in their UFC on FOX 16 rematch, there’s really only one challenge left for Dillashaw to face: Women’s Bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey.

Yep, we’re talking man vs. woman fights again, it seems.

Dillashaw recently sat down with our partners at MadeMan for a lengthy interview, dishing on everything from how to get six-pack abs how he would take down a heavyweight in a street fight. Of course, with Ronda Rousey being the talk of the town these days, Dillashaw was eventually asked how he’d see himself fairing in a hypothetical fight against “Rowdy.” His answer was about as good as you could hope for.

It wouldn’t be much of a fight?
Umm… of course. I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt. But it’s one of those things where I’m going to be the bad guy no matter what if it happens. You know? I’d be an asshole for knocking her out or I’d be looked down upon for losing. So it’s a lose-lose situation, but yeah, I mean, I definitely see myself winning that fight very, in my mind, easily.

Yeah, but could he do it while sporting an evening gown and six inch heels? These are the kind of questions we should really be devoting numerous articles to, Nation.

Head over to MadeMan for the entire interview. 

The post Interview: UFC Champ TJ Dillashaw “Could Absolutely Take Ronda Rousey” appeared first on Cagepotato.


(via Getty.)

Team Alpha Male’s TJ Dillashaw has had perhaps one of the quickest and most unexpected rises to greatness in the sport’s history. In just over a year, he has gone from the guy that P4P king Renan Barao was going to eat for lunch to the UFC’s reigning bantamweight champion and a top pound-for-pounder in his own right. On the heels of a vicious shellacking of Barao in their UFC on FOX 16 rematch, there’s really only one challenge left for Dillashaw to face: Women’s Bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey.

Yep, we’re talking man vs. woman fights again, it seems.

Dillashaw recently sat down with our partners at MadeMan for a lengthy interview, dishing on everything from how to get six-pack abs how he would take down a heavyweight in a street fight. Of course, with Ronda Rousey being the talk of the town these days, Dillashaw was eventually asked how he’d see himself fairing in a hypothetical fight against “Rowdy.” His answer was about as good as you could hope for.

It wouldn’t be much of a fight?
Umm… of course. I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt. But it’s one of those things where I’m going to be the bad guy no matter what if it happens. You know? I’d be an asshole for knocking her out or I’d be looked down upon for losing. So it’s a lose-lose situation, but yeah, I mean, I definitely see myself winning that fight very, in my mind, easily.

Yeah, but could he do it while sporting an evening gown and six inch heels? These are the kind of questions we should really be devoting numerous articles to, Nation.

Head over to MadeMan for the entire interview. 

The post Interview: UFC Champ TJ Dillashaw “Could Absolutely Take Ronda Rousey” appeared first on Cagepotato.

Quote of the Day: Frank Mir “Is Not Happy” About Potentially “Derailing” Andrei Arlovski at UFC 191


(Derailing the hype train of a youngster once and for all, on the other hand…via Getty)

Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski have a lot in common. They’re both over six feet tall, they were both born in 1979, and they both recently used Antonio “Bifgoot” Silva as a stepping stone for their careers. (Ed note: Click here to celebrate that sweet burn with me.)

Less than a year ago, it looked like Mir all but destined to wind up alongside his former rival in the “forced retirement” line, and now, he’s looking at a potential title shot if he is victorious over Arlovski, whom himself just defeated a heavily-favored top 5 opponent in his last contest. The two veteran heavyweights will do battle at UFC 191: Johnson vs. Dodson 2 in just a couple weeks in a fight that has damn near everyone foaming at the mouth in anticipation. Everyone except Frank Mir, that is.

The post Quote of the Day: Frank Mir “Is Not Happy” About Potentially “Derailing” Andrei Arlovski at UFC 191 appeared first on Cagepotato.


(Derailing the hype train of a youngster once and for all, on the other hand…via Getty)

Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski have a lot in common. They’re both over six feet tall, they were both born in 1979, and they both recently used Antonio “Bifgoot” Silva as a stepping stone for their careers. (Ed note: Click here to celebrate that sweet burn with me.)

Less than a year ago, it looked like Mir all but destined to wind up alongside his former rival in the “forced retirement” line, and now, he’s looking at a potential title shot if he is victorious over Arlovski, whom himself just defeated a heavily-favored top 5 opponent in his last contest. The two veteran heavyweights will do battle at UFC 191: Johnson vs. Dodson 2 in just a couple weeks in a fight that has damn near everyone foaming at the mouth in anticipation. Everyone except Frank Mir, that is.

Mir lamented his frustrations to the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

In one sense, I’m not happy about it on a social level. I think we both have a lot to offer the sport and I don’t want to see either one of us derailed right now. I would have been much happier with this situation if we could have skipped each other at this point. I could have fought someone else in the top three and he could have fought Werdum for the title and then we could have faced each other in a title fight instead if he would have won.

I have a lot of respect for Andrei. He’s a guy that if my kids were to tell me right now they were fans of Andrei, I would completely cultivate that. Here’s a guy who was at the top. He went from the pinnacle of our sport to getting cut, signing with other organizations, losing more and he’s getting put out cold. Everyone is saying he’s done, his chin is gone, he needs to retire and this guy doesn’t listen to anybody. He just said, ‘Nope, I’m going to keep moving forward and figure out a way.’ He’s better now.

While it’s obviously not the ideal thing you’d like to hear from a guy heading into one of the biggest fights of his life, can you really fault Mir here? Like most of us diehard Arlovski fans who totally predicted his comeback from the day he first left the UFC with complete, unwavering assuredness (raises hand), Mir’s pulling for the old guy. The guy who’s been knocked down, beat down, black and blue. The guy who took a bad situation and made it right. The guy who, if he fell back down, you’d help him back up again. (Ed note: The soundtrack for that inspiring bit of prose can be found here).

Then again, over half of the heavyweight division’s top 10 are old dudes either in the midst of a comeback or on the tail end of one, so Mir’s options for potential opponents are pretty limited here. I wonder if he knows that the new champ and the former champ have been booked in a rematch for no apparent reason. That’d be a kick right to his wrinkly old balls.

In any case, I hope for Mir’s sake that his lack of motivation to fight Arlovski doesn’t affect his performance in the cage come September 5th. “The Pit Bull” is already being listed as a 3-to-1 favorite and everyone who knows anything about this sport knows that Nostalgic Frank Mir can be found just between High Altitude Velasquez and Unmotivated Penn on the list of P4P Worst Fighters Ever.

The post Quote of the Day: Frank Mir “Is Not Happy” About Potentially “Derailing” Andrei Arlovski at UFC 191 appeared first on Cagepotato.

WTF?! Quote of the Day: Cat Zingano “Didn’t Expect” That Ronda Rousey Would “Go for Her Arm” at UFC 184

(Yeah, I actually prefer this analysis.)

With each successive Ronda Rousey performance, it becomes increasingly difficult to picture any future opponent of hers lasting over a minute, let alone a round, with the “Rowdy” one. She outgrapples wrestlers, pancakes strikers, and submits everyone in between without breaking a sweat, and it’s been like this her entire career — nine of the woman’s twelve professional fights can be captured in a single gif, for Christ’s sake.

Enter Cat Zingano, a hulking physical specimen and tough-as-nails fighter that many of us believed would be the one to push Rousey further than anyone before when they collided at UFC 184. Unfortunately for us (and Zingano), she actually wound up on the wrong side of the shortest title fight in UFC history: a 14-second armbar defeat.

Personally, I chalked the loss up to Zingano simply being overwhelmed by the moment and throwing any strategy she had planned out the door. In an interview with ESPN published yesterday, however, “Alpha” made the mind-blowing revelation that her performance was only hindered by the fact that she didn’t expect Ronda Rousey — Judo master, nine-wins-by-armbar Ronda Rousey — to go for her arm.

The post WTF?! Quote of the Day: Cat Zingano “Didn’t Expect” That Ronda Rousey Would “Go for Her Arm” at UFC 184 appeared first on Cagepotato.


(Yeah, I actually prefer this analysis.)

With each successive Ronda Rousey performance, it becomes increasingly difficult to picture any future opponent of hers lasting over a minute, let alone a round, with the “Rowdy” one. She outgrapples wrestlers, pancakes strikers, and submits everyone in between without breaking a sweat, and it’s been like this her entire career — nine of the woman’s twelve professional fights can be captured in a single gif, for Christ’s sake.

Enter Cat Zingano, a hulking physical specimen and tough-as-nails fighter that many of us believed would be the one to push Rousey further than anyone before when they collided at UFC 184. Unfortunately for us (and Zingano), she actually wound up on the wrong side of the shortest title fight in UFC history: a 14-second armbar defeat.

Personally, I chalked the loss up to Zingano simply being overwhelmed by the moment and throwing any strategy she had planned out the door. In an interview with ESPN published yesterday, however, “Alpha” made the mind-blowing revelation that her performance was only hindered by the fact that she didn’t expect Ronda Rousey — Judo master, nine-wins-by-armbar Ronda Rousey — to go for her arm.

I stand by my decision. Throughout the week, every time I saw Ronda we would shake hands and she would say, ‘Come on, let’s do this. Let’s put on an epic fight.’ I was thinking, ‘I don’t want to talk to her. I don’t want to be friends with her. At some point, I’m planning on being on top of this girl and I don’t want to care what I’m doing to her.’

She kept saying things like that so I said, ‘OK, let’s do this.’ What better way to put on an epic fight than a flying knee? I expected us to continue to fight. I didn’t realize we were going to do a jiu-jitsu match where I’m flying at her and all of a sudden she’s going for my arm again. I guess that’s one disappointment I had. If I had known she was going to be going for my arms, I would have gone about it differently. I agreed to her kind of fight instead of my kind of fight, and that won’t happen again.

Well, that is just….wow.

Look, I have the utmost respect for what Ms. Zingano has achieved thus far in her MMA career — especially in light of the absolute hell she has gone through over the past couple years — but those words that she spoke out of her mouthhole are bonkers. Absolutely bonkers. If Zingano is to be believed, she not only:

1.) Let her opponent’s request dictate how she approached the fight, but

2.) Forgot that Jiu-Jitsu is one of the many disciplines of MMA, and

3.) Didn’t expect a lifelong armbar specialist to go for an armbar when presented with a golden opportunity.

I don’t even know what to say to that. Fighting Ronda Rousey without expecting the armbar is like fighting Cody McKenzie and not expecting the guillotine and/or getting a paper cut from the tags still hanging off his basketball shorts.

And to think, this is only the *second* most insane thing that an opponent of Rousey’s has said this week.

The post WTF?! Quote of the Day: Cat Zingano “Didn’t Expect” That Ronda Rousey Would “Go for Her Arm” at UFC 184 appeared first on Cagepotato.

Interview: Ken Shamrock Talks Kimbo Slice, Bare Knuckle Boxing, Personal Protection, and His Ministry — Part 1

By Zach Heim, with Chad Blessinger 

Ken Shamrock is a busy man these days. 2015 finds the “World’s Most Dangerous Man” involved in a Bellator main event against Kimbo Slice, a professional bare knuckle fight, a ministry for God, stock trading, and at least four other business and professional ventures. He is busier than ever building a future for himself off of 30 years of hard work, and lucky for us, we managed to get a few minutes with Shamrock to discuss a variety of topics.

CagePotato: You were supposed to fight Kimbo Slice a long time back until a last-minute cut over your eye forced you to bow out. Tell us about that experience.

The post Interview: Ken Shamrock Talks Kimbo Slice, Bare Knuckle Boxing, Personal Protection, and His Ministry — Part 1 appeared first on Cagepotato.

By Zach Heim, with Chad Blessinger 

Ken Shamrock is a busy man these days. 2015 finds the “World’s Most Dangerous Man” involved in a Bellator main event against Kimbo Slice, a professional bare knuckle fight, a ministry for God, stock trading, and at least four other business and professional ventures. He is busier than ever building a future for himself off of 30 years of hard work, and lucky for us, we managed to get a few minutes with Shamrock to discuss a variety of topics.

CagePotato: You were supposed to fight Kimbo Slice a long time back until a last-minute cut over your eye forced you to bow out. Tell us about that experience.

Ken Shamrock: Yeah, there’s a lot to it. My father had went into a coma and I spent about three weeks at the hospital with him while I was training for this fight. I got on a plane because he told me I needed to go take care of business. So I get on a plane and I fly down to do the fight. The night before the fight they called and told me he went into a coma or they put him on a machine or whatever…they had to keep him on life support. They asked what I wanted to do. So I said don’t do anything until I get back. So there was a lot of stuff going on, along with some different business stuff that was happening.

I grabbed a friend of mine and moved everything out of the hotel room. I was in a suite, so I had an area just to roll around to get my head back in to where it needed to be, a light roll, nothing heavy. I just caught his head the wrong way, it cut me, went to the hospital got it triple stitched/double stitched. I asked the doctor, “Can you clear me?” and he said, “If they let you fight, I’ll let you fight.” I went to the arena, got into the locker room and the [Florida] Commission came in, the promoters came in and I clearly told them I would fight. Of course, the Commission ixnayed it, [saying] you know we can’t take the risk. I told them if it [the cut] opens up or breaks they can stop the fight, it’s on me. No big deal, just let it roll, the fights not going to go very long. There’s no way he’s going to last very long. But if it does open up, you can stop me. I’m ok with that. Well, they said no. The fight didn’t happen.

Now what really made me angry was that when they wouldn’t let the fight happen, all the sudden all these different types of stupid comments started coming into play. Kimbo and his team being a part of that and what really upset me the most was the fact that I had made a sacrifice to go out and do this fight. My father had a problem and they put him on life support, things didn’t work out the way they should have but yet I still hear these stupid comments about why I wouldn’t fight, how come I didn’t fight, I got cut, I cut myself, I’m afraid, all these things coming from the Kimbo camp. It just boiled in me and there was not much I could do about it. I always kept it in my mind that if I ever had the opportunity to get into a ring and fight him in mma, I’d be waiting for him.

Neither of you have fought an MMA fight in 5 years and it has been reported the Missouri Commission is going to ask you to do some additional medical testing. Has any of that begun and what exactly does that entail?

They are going to want extra testing, which to me is, you know, whatever, it is what it is. I don’t know why, I thought we got past this stuff, you know, years and years ago with prejudices against women, against colors, against gender, sexual preferences — all these things. We are supposed to have grown as a nation but we continue to keep pulling people aside for whatever the reason the may be because they may be older or they speak different or whatever the reason is. It seems they can’t let it go. Why in the world would you test somebody who is clearly passing all the regulations they are supposed to pass as a regular fighter? Why does it have to be extensive testing because you are 50 years old or your forty years old? Either you pass, or you don’t pass. I don’t understand what their sanctioning reasons are for. It’s either you pass or you don’t pass. If you pass, you fight. I don’t care what age you are.

I think Kimbo showed a lot about himself when he fought Petruzelli the night they wouldn’t let you fight. Seth knocked him out in, what, 15 seconds or something like that?

I don’t get some of these comments that people are making about “Well if he stands up, he’s gonna lose,” and “If he can’t take him down, he’s going to lose.” I’m thinking, “Who are these people, where is their education?”

Not a lot of people knew much about Seth Petruzelli before that fight, which I suppose made his win all the more shocking. 

To me it’s ridiculous. I don’t think Kimbo’s going to handle me, whether it’s stand-up or on the ground. We know [he can’t handle me] on the ground, but even stand-up I just; I watched his boxing. He hand picks his guys, and even then you see [his weaknesses]. Like I said, you know, I’m not going to take him lightly. I’m going to prepare like this is the best fight in the world. But like I said, in the back of my mind, I don’t see a problem here either stand-up or on the ground.

What is the current status of the Lion’s Den? How many gyms are there? What is going on with that part of your career?

I still have Team Lion’s Den. In fact, it is my son, myself, and I will be fighting under Team Lions Den in this fight coming up. My son still fights under it. I have three boys. They fight under it. All my family fights under it. That’s as far as it goes. Right now Team Lion’s Den is basically a ministry outreach program. (It’s) my non-profit organization where I walk out and I help youth and do motivational speaking. I transferred that in that direction but the Team Lion’s Den is definitely not dead now. It’s just that right at this point in time I’m just so focused on really doing more work for my ministry and work for young athletes who are amateurs who are trying to turn pro. I don’t want to, obviously, but them under a team flag or anything like that. I just want to help these guys make good decisions on their own for their own career.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this interview, which will be up tomorrow.

The post Interview: Ken Shamrock Talks Kimbo Slice, Bare Knuckle Boxing, Personal Protection, and His Ministry — Part 1 appeared first on Cagepotato.