The well-known phrase “jump the shark” is often used to describe someone or something that has lost its initial appeal—the phrase itself has arguably jumped the shark at this point.
As news filtered in about Tito Ortiz’s fractur…
The well-known phrase “jump the shark” is often used to describe someone or something that has lost its initial appeal—the phrase itself has arguably jumped the shark at this point.
As news filtered in about Tito Ortiz’s fractured neck late last week, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the expression.
MMA is still in its infancy, but it has grown old enough to see many of its former stars cling desperately to whatever relevancy remains.
This list laments those faded stars who continue to chase the spotlight despite the mixture of scorn and apathy that greets their every move.
As always, feel free to include your own suggestions in the comments.
(Taktarov vs. Kerr, as promoted by Bob Meyrowitz. If this doesn’t embody everything about today’s discussion, then what *does*? Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)
It was thirty-three years ago today that the absolutely tragic bout between Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes went down — where a younger, far more athletic Larry Holmes beat the aging legend so badly that he actually cried for Ali when it was over. Though Ali is still celebrated as one of the greatest fighters of all time, his legacy has never been the same as it could have been if he simply stayed retired. It’s in memory of this fight that we’ll be talking about falls from grace during today’s roundtable: fighters who stuck around far too long, lost some embarrassing bouts as a result and tarnished their once-great legacies. Read on for our picks, and please continue to send your ideas for future CagePotato Roundtable topics to[email protected].
Tim Sylvia: A name once synonymous with greatness, excitement, and extraordinary physique. Once atop the Mount Olympus of the sport, he reigned supreme over lesser beings for roughly four years, vanquishing the best of the best in his weight class. OK, so maybe I’m exaggerating here. So maybe Tim Sylvia was never exactly a world beater; he was awkward, plodding, fat, had no real ground game to speak of and was the UFC heavyweight champion when all the best fighters in the division were busy competing across the Pacific ocean.
But for all that, he was the heavyweight champion. He even had sex with his greatest rival’s ex-girlfriend. (Leading to this glorious interview with said rival, Andrei Arlovski.) He was relatively wealthy, at least compared to other fighters. Point being, he had achieved all someone who came into this world as Tim Sylvia could possibly hope to achieve. Even once he had lost the title, he still retained the respect that was deservedly owed to him.
(Taktarov vs. Kerr, as promoted by Bob Meyrowitz. If this doesn’t embody everything about today’s discussion, then what *does*? Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)
It was thirty-three years ago today that the absolutely tragic bout between Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes went down — where a younger, far more athletic Larry Holmes beat the aging legend so badly that he actually cried for Ali when it was over. Though Ali is still celebrated as one of the greatest fighters of all time, his legacy has never been the same as it could have been if he simply stayed retired. It’s in memory of this fight that we’ll be talking about falls from grace during today’s roundtable: fighters who stuck around far too long, lost some embarrassing bouts as a result and tarnished their once-great legacies. Read on for our picks, and please continue to send your ideas for future CagePotato Roundtable topics to[email protected].
Tim Sylvia: A name once synonymous with greatness, excitement, and extraordinary physique. Once atop the Mount Olympus of the sport, he reigned supreme over lesser beings for roughly four years, vanquishing the best of the best in his weight class. OK, so maybe I’m exaggerating here. So maybe Tim Sylvia was never exactly a world beater; he was awkward, plodding, fat, had no real ground game to speak of and was the UFC heavyweight champion when all the best fighters in the division were busy competing across the Pacific ocean.
But for all that, he was the heavyweight champion. He even had sex with his greatest rival’s ex-girlfriend. (Leading to this glorious interview with said rival, Andrei Arlovski.) He was relatively wealthy, at least compared to other fighters. Point being, he had achieved all someone who came into this world as Tim Sylvia could possibly hope to achieve. Even once he had lost the title, he still retained the respect that was deservedly owed to him.
After those humiliating 36 seconds, Sylvia was never the same. He came into his next fight, against former boxing champion Ray Mercer, weighing over 310 pounds. After an apparent gentlemen’s agreement was reached to only throw punches, Sylvia proceeded to open the fight with a leg kick. Mercer, who has previously suffered a defeat to Kimbo Slice and had no weapons beyond his hands, proceeded to knock Sylvia out cold. Sylvia has spent the rest of his career fighting nobodies at super heavyweight, with the one exception being another rematch against Arlovksi, which ended in a no-contest after Arlovski illegally soccer kicked him. (The rules for this fight were, let’s just say, murky.)
If you remain unconvinced Sylvia represents MMA’s furthest fall from grace, consider this. If you type in “Tim Sylvia” in Google, the first auto-suggestion is “Tim Sylvia shits himself.” That sentence will one day be inscribed upon his tombstone as a testament to all who tread there that as low as they find themselves, it’s probably not as low as Tim Sylvia has fallen.
I get that the idea behind these roundtables is to present a question that each of us attempt to “answer” as objectively as possible, with talks of “floor turds” and “garbage asses” abound, but to claim that anyone in MMA has fallen further than Ken Shamrock is to turn a blind eye to the facts, plain and simple.
Ken Shamrock is the soggiest, slipperiest floor turd of them all, a floor turd dropped from the foulest, most wretched garbage ass known to man. And worse, he’s a perpetual two-flusher — a turd that simply continues to cling to an otherwise pristine bowl in bits and pieces, no matter how hard you scrub or attempt to knock him off with a particularly strong stream of urine. The Bristol Stool Scale would label Shamrock a Type 6 turd — a mushy, fluffy, not-even-a-real-turd turd; a classification made all the more depressing when you take into consideration that Shamrock was once a fibrous, healthy, Type 3 turd that we all aspire to someday be.
But the point of these roundtables is not only to convince our fellow writers that they are wrong — which they undeniably are, in this case — but to convince you readers that we are right. So I ask unto you, Potato Nation: Have any of the other candidates on this list been guilty of the following?
The Gracie family has to be mentioned in any discussion about falling from grace. They went from being synonymous with victory and with MMA itself to being synonymous with being one-dimensional dinosaurs that can’t beat journeymen.
To understand how bad their fall from grace is, let’s start from when the Gracies took the world by storm: UFC 1.
Not many people knew about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu heading into UFC 1. That was partially by design, since the Gracie family — the savvy marketers that they are — called their art “Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.” So the average American who hasn’t heard of grappling arts sits down to watch UFC 1 and then sees a scrawny Brazilian dude in pajamas steamroll over people twice his size, including a roided-up Ken Shamrock.
To prove that winning the tournament was no fluke, Royce Gracie provided an encore at UFC 2. He withdrew from the UFC 3 tournament after a victorious match with chemically-enhanced Jesus freak Kimo Leopoldo exhausted him, but Gracie returned at UFC 4 and again won the tournament.
“Gracie Jiu-Jitsu” was on fire, the Gracie family was on fire. They became part of MMA’s burgeoning mythology. To the layman, the Gracies were an undefeated family of adept warriors who could crush anyone (despite the undefeated claim being patentlyfalse) and who practically invented grappling (also false; ground-fighting was older than dirt). This was the high point for the Gracie family, and it didn’t last long.
Sakuraba, a talented Japanese wrestler/submission fighter, systematically dismantled the Gracie family, and in doing so proved that the Gracie air of invincibility was just smoke and mirrors. Sakuraba first defeated Royler Gracie at PRIDE 8 in 1999. But his two most notable wins over Gracies were his 90-minute fight with Royce Gracie at the Pride 2000 Grand Prix that ended in Royce’s corner stopping the fight, and when he broke Renzo Gracie’s arm three months later.
The Gracies were mortal now, but there was no shame in that; the Gracie name still commanded respect.
But, six years later, the Gracie name was taken down several more pegs when Royce was lured into the Octagon to fight Matt Hughes. Hughes humiliated Royce almost as bad as Royce humiliated the hapless strikers he faced back in the early 90’s. Then, a year later, Royce further tarnished the Gracie family’s name by testing positive for anabolic steroids in a victorious rematch with Sakuraba — tainting his win over the Japanese fighter.
This was, more or less, the end of the old guard of the Gracie family (save for Renzo Gracie’s ill-advised return to MMA against Matt Hughes in 2010. Ugh).
The next generation of Gracies wasn’t fit to wear their fathers’ gi pants. They proved to be no better than regional-level fighters. Rolles Gracie Jr. couldn’t beat Joey Beltran — even Rolles’ own relative Renzo admitted that was pretty bad. There was a brief glimmer of hope for the Gracie family in the 21st century with BJJ phenom Roger Gracie but he, too, couldn’t put it together in MMA. After an impressive 4-0 run, he lost to King Mo. He won two gimme fights against Keith Jardine and Anthony Smith but then lost an ugly fight to Tim Kennedy in his UFC debut, and was unceremoniously booted from the promotion. Of course, Rolles and Roger are just the tip of the iceberg. I’m neglecting to mention countless other Gracies who tried their hand at MMA and couldn’t live up to their last name.
This isn’t to knock the Gracies though. Their “Gracie Breakdown” YouTube series is amazing, and they’re still a family of talented grapplers. It’s just that when you look at the 90s and then look at the present day, you can’t help but see the sad state of affairs for the Gracie family. Twenty years ago, they ruled the MMA world. Now, a Gracie fighter is only in the news when he fights like he fell out of a pub at 3 am.
There was a time not too long ago whenJens Pulver wasn’t just the face of the lightweight division, he pretty much was the lightweight division. The son of an alcoholic horse jockey, Pulver survived horrific instances of abuse and battled depression — an origin story that made it so easy to cheer for him, and so rewarding to watch him win fight after fight. Pulver went on to become the most dominant lightweight of the early days of the UFC, a true pioneer of the sport in every sense of the word.
Then the predictable happened: Pulver got older, his competition evolved, and MMA moved on, leaving him behind. Time for him to retire, right? If only it were that easy.
See, it’d be one thing if Pulver was rewarded for his services as handsomely as the present-day UFC champions are, but keep in mind that Pulver was in his prime back when the organization was still confined to insignificant venues in obscure towns throughout rural America (Lake Charles has an arena? That’s news to me…). How do you tell a guy who has done so much for our sport — a man with a family to feed and bills to pay — to get out once there’s actually some money to be made as an MMA fighter? You don’t. You simply cringe when you learn that Pulver dropped a lopsided contest to yet another guy you’ve never heard of, and just hope that he at least made bank for the beating.
See Also: Replace “lightweight” with “Japanese,” and you can pretty much say the same thing about Kazushi Sakuraba (if you add a gnarly professional wrestling injury, of course).
In the world of sports, the proverbial fall from grace happens frequently. An athlete is celebrated and perceived in a thoroughly positive manner, yet through their actions the facade is forever changed. Ryan Braun and Lance Armstrong were chemically enhanced cheaters while Pete Rose chose to bet on a game that he could directly affect. Then there are dudes like Tiger Woods whose balls have seen more holes off the golf course than on it while Lenny Dykstra is just a freaking maniac. All of them were beloved at one time or another but through actions outside the lines of their sport, they are damn near pariahs. This is the typical fall from grace but it is rare that a competitor’s legacy is forever changed due to actions within their athletic field.
It happened to Joe Namath in a Los Angeles Rams uniform just like Joe Montana for the Kansas City Chiefs. Willie Mays stumbled around the outfield for the NY Mets and even Michael Jordan couldn’t catch lightning in a bottle when he suited up for the Washington Wizards. Some athletes hang around too long and all the good will they had built up over the course of their amazing careers is almost like a footnote to how they are initially remembered. Such is the case with the very first mainstream media MMA superstar, Chuck Liddell. The Iceman was at the forefront once the ESPNs and Jim Romes of the world finally decided that our sport was legitimate.
Sure, we all knew who Chuck Liddell was, but using him as the pseudo poster boy of MMA was a great fit to the uninformed masses. He was college-educated and soft-spoken but he also had a Mohawk accompanied by head tattoos. He was cerebral, yet scary, and his highlight-reel knockouts solidified the persona. He was the UFC LHW Champion of the World and the perceived baddest man on the planet for several years. He beat a who’s who of the best fighters during his era like Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Vitor Belfort, Kevin Randleman and Alistair Overeem.
Then with one glancing blow on the point of the chin from Quinton Jackson and *POOF* it all changed.
Everybody in MMA loses. It happens. If a fighter hangs around long enough, eventually his lights are going to get turned out, and that’s exactly what happened to The Iceman back at UFC 71. It was supposed to be a momentary setback and he was hand-fed the glass jaw of Keith Jardine in his next outing. Problem is, Jardine and his meth-addict style actually avoided the overhand right of Liddell, handing the former champ his second consecutive defeat. In his next fight, Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva FINALLY happened and it did not disappoint. It was a back and forth war that saw the Iceman come out on top. Sadly, it would be the last victory of Liddell’s HOF career.
Let’s not mince words here: the Iceman’s last three fights are brutal to watch. Not just because we witnessed a former champ losing, but losing in such a manner that we feared for his safety. It started with Rashad Evans damn near sending Chuck’s head into the 13th row with a vicious overhand right. Then Maricio Rua left Liddell on his back staring wide-eyed at the arena lights, and in his final Octagon appearance, Rich Franklin put The Iceman’s career on ice (*rimshot*). It was an uncomfortable end to an otherwise fantastic career. A 1-5 record with 4 horrific KO losses forever damaged Chuck Liddell’s overall legacy and the biggest MMA fall from grace was complete.
From Richard and Maurice McDonald to Ron Wayne, history is littered with poor shmucks who cashed out too early; guys who missed the big picture and went for the short money. Art Davie is one of those guys. A former ad-man and born hustler, Davie was arguably the most important driving force behind the creation of the UFC, pitching his idea of an eight-man mixed-styles fighting tournament to Rorion Gracie and John Milius, and co-founding WOW Promotions, which produced the UFC’s early events along with fledgling pay-per-view outfit Semaphore Entertainment Group.
The UFC became an immediate PPV phenomenon after launching in November 1993 — but after just five events, Davie sold his interest in the company to SEG, and officially left the UFC at the end of 1997, allegedly due to conflicts with Semaphore’s Bob Meyrowitz about the direction that the promotion was taking. Davie would later urge Meyrowitz to stop promoting UFC fights altogether, following the death of Douglas Dedge. But he still takes bittersweet pride in his creation to this day; watching the UFC blossom without him is like being a “divorced father with someone else raising my kid,” Davie once said.
Davie had it all, but didn’t know it, and got out when he thought the getting was good, years before it actually was good. Now, he’s just another old guy in a fedora sitting at the bar, telling anybody who will listen that he “invented that UFC stuff.”
“Sure, pal,” the bartender will say, pouring Art another double of mid-shelf scotch. “Sure you did.” Has there been an especially painful fall from grace that we’ve omitted? Let us know in the comments section.
Although Rogan is often known for his hyperbole, he might have been dead-on that night. Was “Bones” vs. “The Mauler” really the greatest 205-pound title fight in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship? To determine the veracity of that statement, I went back and watched the best light heavyweight fights ever held inside the Octagon, and after countless hours of tape study, I feel as though I’ve come up with a very fair list.
Below I’ve listed what in my opinion are the top 10 light heavyweight fights in UFC history based on a mixed criteria of competitiveness, excitement level, hype, how the fight played out in comparison to its expectations, and how it ended. So without any further ado, let’s get started…
Machida had just knocked out Rashad Evans at UFC 98 and, in the fateful words of Joe Rogan, the “Machida Era” had commenced. However, “Shogun” had a thing or two to say about that as the former PRIDE star was coming off of two TKO wins over Hall of Famers Chuck Liddell and Mark Coleman, and he wanted to prove to everyone it was he, not Machida, who was the best light heavyweight in the world at the time.
For five rounds, Machida and “Shogun” went toe-to-toe in the Octagon and although Machida definitely had his moments in the match, it appeared to most observers that there would be a new light heavyweight champion crowned, as Rua landed a ton of brutal leg kicks to Machida that left the champ’s torso and thighs looking like a bruised peach.
But while “Shogun” arguably won every round of the fight, the judges somehow saw the fight in favor of Machida, with all three scoring the bout 48-47 in favor of “The Dragon” despite the volume of leg kicks thrown by Rua, leading judge Cecil People to idiotically declare that leg kicks don’t finish fights. UFC president Dana White saw things differently, however, and set up an immediate rematch at UFC 113 where Rua KO’d Machida into oblivion — a happy ending to an infamous screwjob.
Although Rogan is often known for his hyperbole, he might have been dead-on that night. Was “Bones” vs. “The Mauler” really the greatest 205-pound title fight in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship? To determine the veracity of that statement, I went back and watched the best light heavyweight fights ever held inside the Octagon, and after countless hours of tape study, I feel as though I’ve come up with a very fair list.
Below I’ve listed what in my opinion are the top 10 light heavyweight fights in UFC history based on a mixed criteria of competitiveness, excitement level, hype, how the fight played out in comparison to its expectations, and how it ended. So without any further ado, let’s get started…
Machida had just knocked out Rashad Evans at UFC 98 and, in the fateful words of Joe Rogan, the “Machida Era” had commenced. However, “Shogun” had a thing or two to say about that as the former PRIDE star was coming off of two TKO wins over Hall of Famers Chuck Liddell and Mark Coleman, and he wanted to prove to everyone it was he, not Machida, who was the best light heavyweight in the world at the time.
For five rounds, Machida and “Shogun” went toe-to-toe in the Octagon and although Machida definitely had his moments in the match, it appeared to most observers that there would be a new light heavyweight champion crowned, as Rua landed a ton of brutal leg kicks to Machida that left the champ’s torso and thighs looking like a bruised peach.
But while “Shogun” arguably won every round of the fight, the judges somehow saw the fight in favor of Machida, with all three scoring the bout 48-47 in favor of “The Dragon” despite the volume of leg kicks thrown by Rua, leading judge Cecil People to idiotically declare that leg kicks don’t finish fights. UFC president Dana White saw things differently, however, and set up an immediate rematch at UFC 113 where Rua KO’d Machida into oblivion — a happy ending to an infamous screwjob.
The UFC promoted this fight as a title unification bout between Jackson, who had just won the UFC title from Chuck Liddell via first-round TKO at UFC 71, and Henderson, who was a two-division champ coming over from PRIDE. But even though it was a title fight, since it took place in England the UFC decided to put the tape-delayed event on SPIKE TV instead of pay-per-view, which turned out to be a great idea as 4.7 million viewers tuned in to watch what became one of the biggest MMA fights in TV history.
The match delivered as much action as it promised, with Henderson and “Rampage” going back-and-forth for five rounds with both men displaying their excellence in striking and wrestling. After it was all said and done, “Rampage” won a unanimous decision, a victory that gave him the only successful defense of his UFC light heavyweight title. As for Henderson, he finally earned another crack at the UFC light heavyweight title in 2012 — a full five years after the fight with Rampage — but after the fiasco of UFC 151 he never ended up getting his shot at the belt. And at 43 years old now and coming off of two losses, it’s doubtful that he will again.
Rampage’s next outing was his five-round battle at UFC 86 against Forrest Griffin, which followed a coaching stint on The Ultimate Fighter season seven — the same show that rocketed Griffin to stardom just three years earlier.
Griffin entered the fight as a big underdog, as most fans thought Jackson’s knockout power and wrestling skills would make it an easy second title defense for him. But the fight sure didn’t play out that way, as Griffin used leg kicks and submission attempts to make it competitive throughout and a true coin-flip on the judges’ cards.
At the end of five rounds, Griffin was announced the winner by unanimous decision and in the process became the second TUF winner to win a UFC title (after Matt Serra the previous year). However, the fight was not without controversy as “Rampage” and many media and fans felt he should have won the decision.
But he didn’t, and that night at UFC 86 was the last time Jackson would ever hold a UFC belt. As for Griffin, he fought another TUF winner, Rashad Evans, in his first title defense at UFC 92, and was knocked out. And, like Jackson, he never came close to sniffing the belt ever again.
The seventh fight on this list is one of three bouts to feature current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, and it only came together as a result of the debacle that was UFC 151. Jones had been set to face Dan Henderson at UFC 151, but “Hendo” pulled out of the fight just a week earlier and Jones refused to face Chael Sonnen on short notice. After Lyoto Machida refused to fight Jones for a second time on short notice, the UFC then recruited middleweight Vitor Belfort to move back up to 205 and try to win back the UFC light heavyweight championship, a belt he held briefly in 2004 when he “stopped” Randy Couture with a cut at UFC 46.
Belfort wasn’t supposed to stand a chance in the matchup, but in the first round he caught Jones in a tight armbar and nearly shocked the world. However, Jones — even though he damaged his arm in the process — fought through the early adversity and then poured it on a game Belfort until the fourth round, when the champ was able to coax a stoppage with a keylock submission.
Although he did win, the fight wasn’t as one-sided as Jones’s previous conquests and it showed that the champ was vulnerable and not as unstoppable as many had previously thought, a point which was driven home in his most recent fight against Alexander Gustafsson. As for Belfort, he used the loss to Jones as fuel for a run at middleweight and he’s since knocked out Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold in scintillating fashion to emerge as one of the top contenders at 185 pounds.
6. Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida, UFC 140
(Photo via Tracy Lee/Yahoo!)
2011 saw Jon Jones choke out Ryan Bader, become light heavyweight champion with a TKO of Shogun Rua, and stop Quinton Jackson with a fourth-round rear-naked choke. For an encore performance, he would have his fourth fight of the year against Lyoto Machida. It turned out to be by far his most difficult match to date, as the elusive Machida was able to outstrike Jones in round one and even rock the young champion at one point, something which no one else had ever done to him inside the Octagon.
But Jones battled back hard and in the second round he began taking it to Machida before snatching “The Dragon’s” neck in a standing guillotine choke. As soon as the referee told Jones to break, he let the choke go and Machida dropped to the canvas, unconscious and with his eyes pointing into nowhere. Jones, meanwhile, just walked away.
Jones has since made four more title defenses to break the former record held by Tito Ortiz, proving without a doubt he is the greatest light heavyweight fighter in the history of the sport. As for Machida, he’s since dropped down to 185 pounds as he looks to become the third fighter in UFC history to win belts in two different weight classes after Randy Couture and BJ Penn previously accomplished the feat.
On the next page: A record-breaking rematch, Tito battles the Shamrocks, and the greatest 205-pound title war is revealed…
Bellator 106 headliner Tito Ortiz put the word out to fellow UFC employees Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock, Randy Couture and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson” to join him in Las Vegas on November 16 for UFC 167.
In an interview with FightHubTV, UFC Presid…
Bellator 106 headliner Tito Ortiz put the word out to fellow UFC employees Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock, Randy Couture and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson” to join him in Las Vegas on November 16 for UFC 167.
In an interview with FightHubTV, UFC President Dana White seemed thoroughly amused by the situation (link features NSFW language):
“They’re gonna crash it? What are they gonna do? ‘YEA!’ They’re gonna come in, sit in their seats and f***ing watch the fight. What are they gonna do? Crash it? Buy seats to the fight, come have fun. Have a f***ing blast. Grab some beers, watch the show and have fun. Ya know? ‘The Super Friends,; yea, the f***ing Super Friends, ‘We’re gonna come to the 20th Anniversary and we’re gonna save the world!’ No, you’re going to walk through the front door, sit in your seats and watch the fights … maybe take some pictures and sign some autographs. Good for you, have fun at the fights.”
White wasn’t willing to let it go without taking some harsh parting shots at Ortiz and the Shamrocks:
“First of all, Tito is the cheapest mother****** on planet Earth, okay? This guy doesn’t spend a dime for anything. He offered to buy the tickets…the two Shamrock knuckleheads oughta take him up on that one. We know Ken doesn’t have the money, Frank probably doesn’t either, but…”
While White and Ortiz have never been the best of friends, the bad blood has surfaced again as the long-time UFC light heavyweight champ has recently trashed his ex-boss leading up to his November 2 matchup with Rampage under the Bellator banner (via MMA Fighting).
Additionally, White just made an allegation that Ken Shamrock owes him $175,000 for legal fees (via MMA Junkie), while Frank Shamrock, a pioneer of the sport, is still waiting to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
Needless to say, White is not the biggest fan of the Shamrock brothers either.
Recently, Frank Shamrock and Couture coached on season one of Bellator‘s reality series Fight Master, while Ken Shamrock hasn’t been involved in the fight game since November 2010, when he lost to Mike Rouke via TKO on the regional scene.
Ortiz vs. Jackson is the headlining bout for Bellator 106, with the matchup leading to a fair amount of fan criticism, since Ortiz and Jackson have gone 1-9 in their past 10 combined bouts.
Specifically, Ortiz hasn’t won since submitting Ryan Bader with a guillotine choke at UFC 132 in July 2011, while Jackson last had his had raised after a lackluster unanimous decision victory over Matt Hamill at UFC 130 in May 2011.
Out of all the aforementioned fighters, Jackson was the last one to leave the UFC, opting not to renew his contract after losing a clear-cut decision to title contender Glover Teixeira at UFC on FOX 6 in January.
Will White ever patch things up with these well-recognized former employees? Or will he continue to add fuel to the fire in scenarios like this one?
JohnHeinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.
Recently, however, UFC President Dana White decided to finally address Shamrock during the UFC 168 world tour. The moment was eerily reminiscent of Tony Montana’s final interaction with Frank Lopez.
Ken Shamrock owes ME $175,000.
(*stares directly at camera* *moves in for EXTREME CLOSE UP*)
And I’m coming for it, Ken. I’m coming for the fucking money, you piece of shit. You should have stayed wherever you were, hidden under the fucking porch somewhere.
We reached out to Shamrock for a response this morning, but unfortunately, the traffic light turned green before he could finish wiping our windows with last week’s newspaper. Keep an eye on Shamrock’s twitter account, however, as his local library will be opening its doors any minute now.
Recently, however, UFC President Dana White decided to finally address Shamrock during the UFC 168 world tour. The moment was eerily reminiscent of Tony Montana’s final interaction with Frank Lopez.
Ken Shamrock owes ME $175,000.
(*stares directly at camera* *moves in for EXTREME CLOSE UP*)
And I’m coming for it, Ken. I’m coming for the fucking money, you piece of shit. You should have stayed wherever you were, hidden under the fucking porch somewhere.
We reached out to Shamrock for a response this morning, but unfortunately, the traffic light turned green before he could finish wiping our windows with last week’s newspaper. Keep an eye on Shamrock’s twitter account, however, as his local library will be opening its doors any minute now.
Former UFC light heavyweight champion and current Bellator fighter Tito Ortiz is once again trying to stir up trouble for his former employer on social media.
Monday night, the self-proclaimed “People’s Champion” sent out a tweet to fellow MMA pi…
Former UFC light heavyweight champion and current Bellator fighter Tito Ortiz is once again trying to stir up trouble for his former employer on social media.
Monday night, the self-proclaimed “People’s Champion” sent out a tweet to fellow MMA pioneers Frank Shamrock and Ken Shamrock, Randy Couture and upcoming Bellator 106 opponent Quinton “Rampage” Jackson inviting them to attend the UFC’s 20th Anniversary Show, UFC 167.
He was even kind enough to offer to purchase the tickets:
Ken Shamrock, a participant at UFC 1 who lost to Ortiz three times during the course of his career, was enthusiastic about the idea, imploring his younger brother to tag along.
Couture, one of only two fighters in UFC history to win titles in two different weight classes (the other being BJ Penn), was a coach on season 1 of Bellator‘s reality show Fight Master.
That bad blood between him and UFC President Dana White is well-documented, with the hard feelings so severe that “The Natural” isn’t even allowed to corner his son Ryan inside the Octagon (via Bloody Elbow).
The 50-year-old said to count him in as well, making a joke about the possible reunion among the old-timers:
Unfortunately, Frank Shamrock and Rampage did not respond to the stream of tweets as of Tuesday evening.
Ortiz and Jackson have gone on tirades against their former employer leading up to their November 2 showdown, with White firing back that neither competitor is relevant anymore (via MMA Fighting).
UFC 167 takes place on November 16 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the pay-per-view event headlined by a welterweight title fight between Georges St-Pierre and Johny Hendricks.
JohnHeinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.
