Getting on Dana White’s bad side has proven to be an unenviable place to be over the years, and it appears Ken Shamrock has worked his way back onto the UFC President’s radar.
There has been no love lost between White and the former UFC champion and MM…
Getting on Dana White‘s bad side has proven to be an unenviable place to be over the years, and it appears Ken Shamrock has worked his way back onto the UFC President’s radar.
There has been no love lost between White and the former UFC champion and MMA pioneer over the years, but the grudge between the two parties had fallen by the wayside for the most part. Shamrock attempted to sue Zuffa in 2009 for allegedly releasing him from his contract early, but he failed, and there hasn’t been much cannon fodder traded between the two parties since.
Those conditions changed last week when “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” blasted White on Twitter for his treatment of fighters who helped the promotion establish itself as the premier organization in mixed martial arts with particular emphasis on Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and his half-brother Frank.
The veteran also launched into the issue of fighter pay during his online rant, accusing White of failing to pay the fighters who have paved the way accordingly.
It appears Shamrock’s efforts to get White’s attention have worked, and the UFC front man addressed the matter at the media scrum held Tuesday for the “Silva vs. Weidman 2″ fight.
“I don’t even want to mention this guy’s f****** name,” White said. “Ken Shamrock bursts back onto the scene like, ‘Hey, I’m trying to save everybody.’ No, trying to become relevant again is what you’re trying to do. Let’s not forget that Ken Shamrock tried to sue us about his contract.
“Ken Shamrock owes me $175,000, and I’m coming for it Ken. I’m coming for it you f****** piece of sh**. You should have stayed where you were, hidden under the f****** porch somewhere. The guy owes me $175,000 because him and his scumbag lawyer put together some phony lawsuit that he lost, and he owes me $175,000 in attorney fees. He’s out there talking about what he doesn’t have and what guys aren’t getting, but he’s trying to make himself relevant again. If anybody can’t see that, you’re just f****** stupid.”
White has never been trigger-shy when dealing with the criticism from former UFC fighters over the years. His current beef with Shamrock comes at a time when he’s also in the midst of trading public barbs with former UFC champions Ortiz and Jackson, who he believes are stirring up commotion for the sake of bringing publicity to their upcoming bout under the Bellator banner.
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
(Tito Ortiz makes another stop on his global goodwill tour | Photo via @TitoOrtiz)
Tito Ortiz, Ken Shamrock, Randy Couture, Quinton Jackson and Frank Shamrock are all former UFC champions that are currently personas non grata to the organization and its President Dana White. (Not coincidentally, four of those five guys currently have some role in the Bellator organization.) For that reason, Ortiz seems to think it would be pretty funny if they all went to the UFC’s 20th anniversary show November 16th in Las Vegas.
“@ShamrockKen @frankshamrock @Randy_Couture @Rampage4real maybe we should crash the show. I will buy the tickets.” Ortiz recently tweeted.
Apparently, some of the other guys liked the idea. Tito’s former mortal enemy, Ken Shamrock, tweeted back, “I like TITO’s idea,” and then, “I will stand beside you Tito. – frank lets go!!!!!,” encouraging his brother to join them.
So we guess to Ken, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Or something. Ken told Tito to send him a direct message through twitter so they could totally discuss deets, and then sent out a “hi randy” shout out to Couture.
Couture, who is probably smarting more than anyone else about not being allowed at UFC events ever since Dana banned the two-division UFC champion from cornering his son Ryan, then weighed in. “feel sorry for the security guys dana sends to have us removed 🙂 hope they have guns !,” he tweeted, apparently still in character as Toll Road from The Expendables.
(Tito Ortiz makes another stop on his global goodwill tour | Photo via @TitoOrtiz)
Tito Ortiz, Ken Shamrock, Randy Couture, Quinton Jackson and Frank Shamrock are all former UFC champions that are currently personas non grata to the organization and its President Dana White. (Not coincidentally, four of those five guys currently have some role in the Bellator organization.) For that reason, Ortiz seems to think it would be pretty funny if they all went to the UFC’s 20th anniversary show November 16th in Las Vegas.
“@ShamrockKen @frankshamrock @Randy_Couture @Rampage4real maybe we should crash the show. I will buy the tickets.” Ortiz recently tweeted.
Apparently, some of the other guys liked the idea. Tito’s former mortal enemy, Ken Shamrock, tweeted back, “I like TITO’s idea,” and then, “I will stand beside you Tito. – frank lets go!!!!!,” encouraging his brother to join them.
So we guess to Ken, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Or something. Ken told Tito to send him a direct message through twitter so they could totally discuss deets, and then sent out a “hi randy” shout out to Couture.
Couture, who is probably smarting more than anyone else about not being allowed at UFC events ever since Dana banned the two-division UFC champion from cornering his son Ryan, then weighed in. “feel sorry for the security guys dana sends to have us removed hope they have guns !,” he tweeted, apparently still in character as Toll Road from The Expendables.
“can you imagine those guys would be sh[i]tting their knickers,” he went on gleefully. Bout time Couture took the, “what are you going to do about it, Dana?” approach to attending UFC events.
If these guys got together it might be fun for a few moments but it wouldn’t take long to become awkward, probably. They are a bunch of alpha-personalities who either have a long history of feuding with one another or are set to fight one another in the near future (Tito and Rampage), so chillaxing together seems unlikely. Still, it might be a confusing treat for the OG fans in attendance at the show if they somehow managed to get on the telecast.
What do you think, Nation? Is this is a clever prank or sad call for attention from Ortiz? And, if they are going to do this, which old fighters did Tito leave out that he should invite?
Ken Shamrock voiced his displeasure about fighter treatment and pay Monday evening on Twitter, calling out UFC President Dana White in the process.
After receiving the above YouTube video in a tweet (h/t MMAjunkie.com) from a concerned fan, Shamr…
Ken Shamrock voiced his displeasure about fighter treatment and pay Monday evening on Twitter, calling out UFC President Dana White in the process.
After receiving the above YouTube video in a tweet (h/t MMAjunkie.com) from a concerned fan, Shamrock and UFC Hall of Fame inductee Randy Couture chimed in on the topic, echoing the video’s sentiments about fighter pay.
While Couture sounded off first, Shamrock promptly took the mic and commanded it for the remainder of the set, as he touched upon fighter pay and the overall lack of respect fighters receive from White.
So what [you’re] saying is that the fighters did not make the ufc what it is today, that disrespectful promoter did all of that. Wow, what a smart guy you are. Why didn’t I think of that? Who needs fighters when you can just disrespect the guys who made your promotion and talk trash and make loads of money and not give what is partially the fighters money.
This is not uncharted land for Shamrock.
In an April 2013 video filmed for The FightNetwork, Shamrock used firsthand experience and observations to make these claims:
I don’t like to see people get taken advantage of, and I speak my mind when I see something wrong and other people are being hurt…I’ve seen things that are wrong. I see the lies that are being told. I know the money that is being made, and I know that people are being lied to…There’s more money being made there, and they’re lying to people about the money being made.
A 2012 ESPN article detailed fighters’ reluctance to discuss fighter pay, saying that the topic activates their “flight instincts.”
On the other hand, legends like Chuck Liddell have spoken candidly on the subject, concluding that the pay scale is more than fair for fighters, while White himself consistently tosses positive metrics back in the faces of critics.
The fact that fighter pay is a recurring theme—one that we’ve seen discussed for years—tells me that the situation is not perfect.
While Shamrock and Couture are not exactly UFC advocates at this point in their respective careers, ex-UFC fighters like Jon Fitch,Jacob Volkmann and John Cholish have also expressed their discontent with the organization’s pay scale.
There is no doubt that the top fighters enjoy significantly steeper pay grades than undercard inhabitants, but, as Liddell points out, those who continue to win impressively will reap the rewards.
Shamrock, still displeased by the video and the ensuing conversation it spawned, capped off his tirade by reminding White where to direct the credit for his successes:
You see, Shamrock was expected to face Ian Freeman at an Ultimate Cage Fighting Championship event on July 27th. A few days ago, however, Shamrock pulled out of the fight and claimed that the promotion was trying to shortchange him, resulting in the fight being cancelled altogether. We know, sounds familiar, right? Only now, a pissed off Freeman is accusing Shamrock of cheating the promotion out of $5,000 and skipping town (original story here) — what’s known on Broadway as “pulling a Harold Hill.” Freeman vented on his Facebook page:
Well, everyone including myself, knew this fight was too good to be true as we know what a coward Shamrock is.
Not only is Shamrock a coward but he’s also a thief. He accepted the fight, demanded $5,000 upfront as a deposit of trust, of which was sent, and now refuses to return the money.
Not only has he demanded that money up front but also ask for his purse and ticket deal to be paid “before” he fights and this money to be sent to an American bank.
UCFC bent over backwards to stick to your Diva demands but you bitched about everything. Even to the fact that they were advertising your name to sell tickets. That’s what every show in the world does [you] dumb fuck. The fight was confirmed, and you signed and made a video signing the contract. Idiot.
While this seemed like a simple case of “he said, she said” at first, it wasn’t until we revisited an old interview with Chael Sonnen, of all people, that this case was blown wide open.
You see, Shamrock was expected to face Ian Freeman at an Ultimate Cage Fighting Championship event on July 27th. A few days ago, however, Shamrock pulled out of the fight and claimed that the promotion was trying to shortchange him, resulting in the fight being cancelled altogether. We know, sounds familiar, right? Only now, a pissed off Freeman is accusing Shamrock of cheating the promotion out of $5,000 and skipping town (original story here) — what’s known on Broadway as “pulling a Harold Hill.” Freeman vented on his Facebook page:
Well, everyone including myself, knew this fight was too good to be true as we know what a coward Shamrock is.
Not only is Shamrock a coward but he’s also a thief. He accepted the fight, demanded $5,000 upfront as a deposit of trust, of which was sent, and now refuses to return the money.
Not only has he demanded that money up front but also ask for his purse and ticket deal to be paid “before” he fights and this money to be sent to an American bank.
UCFC bent over backwards to stick to your Diva demands but you bitched about everything. Even to the fact that they were advertising your name to sell tickets. That’s what every show in the world does [you] dumb fuck. The fight was confirmed, and you signed and made a video signing the contract. Idiot.
While this seemed like a simple case of “he said, she said” at first, it wasn’t until we revisited an old interview with Chael Sonnen, of all people, that this case was blown wide open:
“I can guarantee you that as sure as night follows day, that not only is that fight never gonna happen, it never was. Ken Shamrock is going around to all these different promoters doing his typical scumbag move getting money up front saying, “You know, I’m a Hall of Famer and I don’t even know if you guys are going to exist, so give me a ten grand signing bonus.”
He takes their money, goes and blades himself in the back, or whatever make believe thing that guy does, won’t show up – guaranteed he won’t show up – keeps their ten grand and goes on to the next unassuming promoter. He’s not gonna fight James Toney anymore than you are. He never was. That fight won’t happen, mark my words.”
We don’t know how to say this, but Chael Sonnen is starting to sound less like a schizophrenic WWE heel and more like a goddamn prophet these days. That interview is over two years old, yet has Shamrock’s current shtick pegged to a tee. The even more damning evidence? Shamrock’s response to the controversy and John Joe O’Regan’s subsequent takedown of “The World’s Most Dangerous Man.”
Shamrock: England, they don’t have a sanctioning body so that’s the reason why we’ve done this escrow, where they put the money into escrow. We know that when we get to England these contracts aren’t valid because there’s no sanctioning body.Â
So these contracts are not legal. So that’s why we did it that way, and now they’re – which we didn’t think they would do because it’s stupid business – but they’re trying to pull that now.
Writer’s Note: Shamrock is not correct here. Contracts/bout agreements are not illegal in the absence of a sanctioning body. They are still legally enforceable agreements between the parties, but would be enforced via the civil justice system in the UK via the small claims court. (Source: Writer is a law graduate)
So there you have it; Ken Shamrock has somehow managed to out-sleazeball Bob Sapp, who at least shows up to his contacted fights and takes some semblance of a beating before receiving his overly-inflated paycheck. And as with Sapp, the only way we are going to rid ourselves of the cancer Shamrock has become (Kencer?) is to stop enabling him. So we beg of you, small-time MMA promoters: DO NOT HIRE THIS FRAUD.
If our past few articles about Shamrock are any indication, this is the point where a couple of you jump up our asses about “disrespecting a legend” and start building strawmen in regards to what us writers have done with our lives that is so great. I can’t speak for everyone here, but I’m certain that I’ve never resorted to extortion as a way of earning income. Prostitution may be a dirty business, but at least it’s honest.
Tournaments seem like a great way to determine the best competitor from a group of athletes. You have 8 (or 16 or 32 or whatever the number) fighters, put them in a bracket, and then let them fight it out. The last dude standing clearly must be the best because he survived the tournament, right?
Tournaments — like the ones the UFC used to run — are heavily dependent on how the bracket is organized. Some fighters get an easy run, others get a gauntlet.
This got us at Cage Potato thinking: What if some of the early UFC tournament brackets were re-organized or even shuffled just a little bit? Who would end up becoming the “Ultimate Fighters” of the 1990s? Let’s find out!
UFC 2
UFC 2 was the first and only 16-man tournament run by the UFC. The first round of the tournament — save for Royce Gracie’s fight (of course)—didn’t air on the PPV and aren’t on the DVD either. These “lost fights” from UFC 2 have quite a few interesting characters such as the enigmatic Pencak Silat master Alberto Cerro Leon and the chubby, sweatpants-clad Robert Lucarelli.
Look at the complete bracket and see how many names you recognize. Most of these guys from the UFC 2 dark matches had no chance in the tournament, save for a man named Freek (or Frank) Hamaker. We’re going to stick with Freek because it rhymes with Reek. A fighter like Hamaker was a rarity in the early days. He wasn’t a hapless striker fated to be embarrassed. He was a sambo practitioner who trained under legendary European grappler Chris Dolman.
Hamaker’s first (and only) fight was at UFC 2 against the mysterious San Soo Kung Fu man Thaddeus Luster. The fight went like the typical early UFC fight. The guy with grappling immediately took down the guy without grappling and won shortly afterwards. Hamaker withdrew from the tournament after defeating Luster and disappeared to the pornography theater from whence he came.
(And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why history must be re-written.)
Tournaments seem like a great way to determine the best competitor from a group of athletes. You have 8 (or 16 or 32 or whatever the number) fighters, put them in a bracket, and then let them fight it out. The last dude standing clearly must be the best because he survived the tournament, right?
Tournaments — like the ones the UFC used to run — are heavily dependent on how the bracket is organized. Some fighters get an easy run, others get a gauntlet.
This got us at Cage Potato thinking: What if some of the early UFC tournament brackets were re-organized or even shuffled just a little bit? Who would end up becoming the “Ultimate Fighters” of the 1990s? Let’s find out!
UFC 2
UFC 2 was the first and only 16-man tournament run by the UFC. The first round of the tournament — save for Royce Gracie’s fight (of course)—didn’t air on the PPV and aren’t on the DVD either.  These “lost fights” from UFC 2 have quite a few interesting characters such as the enigmatic Pencak Silat master Alberto Cerro Leon and the chubby, sweatpants-clad Robert Lucarelli.
Look at the complete bracket and see how many names you recognize. Most of these guys from the UFC 2 dark matches had no chance in the tournament, save for a man named Freek (or Frank) Hamaker.  We’re going to stick with Freek because it rhymes with Reek. A fighter like Hamaker was a rarity in the early days. He wasn’t a hapless striker fated to be embarrassed.  He was a sambo practitioner who trained under legendary European grappler Chris Dolman.
Hamaker’s first (and only) fight was at UFC 2 against the mysterious San Soo Kung Fu man Thaddeus Luster. The fight went like the typical early UFC fight. The guy with grappling immediately took down the guy without grappling and won shortly afterwards. Hamaker withdrew from the tournament after defeating Luster and disappeared to the pornography theater from whence he came.
Hamaker had tremendous potential given his background in an effective martial art and given that having any kind of grappling ability in the early UFCs was tantamount to bringing a taser into the cage with you.
We don’t need to re-imagine the UFC 2 bracket much to have a more interesting outcome.
Let’s just pretend that Hamaker never got injured and consequently never withdrew.
After defeating Luster, he’d take on kickboxer Johnny Rhodes. Judging by the fact that Patrick Smith submitted Rhodes in a little over a minute, a more qualified grappler in Hamaker probably wouldn’t need much more time to do the same.
That would bring Hamaker into the semifinals against Pat Smith, who was previously submitted by Ken Shamrock at UFC 1 in short order, and was destroyed in the UFC 2 finals by Royce Gracie. Smith may have had enough grappling to beat the Ray Wizards and Rudyard Moncayos of the world but he likely wouldn’t have enough submission acumen to beat Hamaker. So in CagePotato’s alternate reality version of events, The “Freak” — that wasn’t his nickname, but it should’ve been. Freek “The Freak” Hamaker? You don’t like it? Fine. — therefore gets his hand raised for third time that night.
Could Hamaker really have taken out Royce Gracie in the finals?
Probably not, but keep in mind that Gracie initially struggled against Keith Hackney at UFC 5, a karate guy who had added just a smattering of BJJ into his arsenal. So, Gracie still would probably have won UFC 2 but he would’ve looked mortal doing it — and that’s the important thing.
At UFC 1, Royce Gracie looked like an unstoppable killer; maybe not a Che Mills-level killer, but a killer nonetheless. He took martial arts “experts” down and submitted them without breaking a sweat. Gracie did much of the same at UFC 2.
It’s unlikely that Hamaker would’ve beaten Gracie (pre-drug-testing Ken Shamrock lost to Gracie the first time and the skilled Judoka Remco Pardoel also lost to Gracie as well), but he had a good chance of at least making Gracie look like a regular, fallible fighter.
A Hamaker-Gracie finale would’ve shown the world that BJJ (or, more specifically “Gracie” Jiu-Jitsu) wasn’t a martial arts panacea and that Royce Gracie wasn’t some kind of god. It took Jesus-freak, motivational speaker, and meth enthusiast Kimo Leopoldo to do that.
(At one point, Jones tried to pull away because he thought the handshake was over, but Chael held on for like a half-second longer. It was, without question, the most challenging moment of Jones’s professional MMA career. / Photo via Getty Images)
The fight game isn’t just about tatted-up white guys with shaved heads hitting each other in the face. If it were, BodogFIGHT and the IFL would still be alive and kicking. Marketing /Hype/PR is a crucial aspect of the fight business — but it doesn’t always go so well.
There were times when the UFC has had stunning marketing triumphs (the whole “Zuffa created the entire MMA world and if you don’t like it you’re a butthurt Pride fanboy” shtick). But there were also times when the UFC’s efforts fell flat on their face like Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante against Dan Henderson.
What were some of these hyped-up but obviously bullshit moments? Let’s have a look…
1. Watch Che Mills, the Unstoppable Killing Machine!
(Source: Getty)
UFC 145’s main event of Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans was strong enough to sell a pay-per-view on. Sure, sometimes the promo made the two fighters look like jilted lovers, but we’re not gonna hate on the UFC for hyping up a title fight.
We will, however, hate on them for trying to convince fans that a squash match — Rory MacDonald vs. Che Mills — was some kind of epic duel between two young lions. There was only one prospect in that fight, and it wasn’t Che Mills.
The UFC’s inability to do anything with subtlety ruined the promos for this event, the prelims for this event, and most of the PPV portion of this event. Describing Mills as a “new, dangerous welterweight from the UK” was a gross exaggeration. The British striker was only dangerous if you were a TUF bum or if you suffered an accidental knee injury while fighting him.
During the prelims, Rogan was doing the hard sell. THIS CHE MILLS GUY IS A KILLER. HE’S A MONSTER. HE’S A BADASS. HE BEHEADED NED STARK. HE SHOT BAMBI’S MOTHER. Insane falsehoods like this littered the broadcast. Rogan didn’t stop the bullshit once the main card started, either.
We got treated with pro-wrestling-level fakeness about how Che Mills was on MacDonald’s level up until MacDonald, predictably, ran through Mills.
Thus, the only thing that got killed at UFC 145 was Mills’s career.
Since then, Mills hasn’t legitimately won a fight, unless you count Duane Ludwig’s freak injury as a legit win. Earlier this month, Mills lost via TKO to Irishman Cathal Pendred (never heard of him either) at a CWFC event in Ireland.
(At one point, Jones tried to pull away because he thought the handshake was over, but Chael held on for like a half-second longer. It was, without question, the most challenging moment of Jones’s professional MMA career. / Photo via Getty Images)
The fight game isn’t just about tatted-up white guys with shaved heads hitting each other in the face. If it were, BodogFIGHT and the IFL would still be alive and kicking. Marketing /Hype/PR is a crucial aspect of the fight business — but it doesn’t always go so well.
There were times when the UFC has had stunning marketing triumphs (the whole “Zuffa created the entire MMA world and if you don’t like it you’re a butthurt Pride fanboy” shtick). But there were also times when the UFC’s efforts fell flat on their face like Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante against Dan Henderson.
What were some of these hyped-up but obviously bullshit moments? Let’s have a look…
1. Watch Che Mills, the Unstoppable Killing Machine!
(Source: Getty)
UFC 145’s main event of Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans was strong enough to sell a pay-per-view on. Sure, sometimes the promo made the two fighters look like jilted lovers, but we’re not gonna hate on the UFC for hyping up a title fight.
We will, however, hate on them for trying to convince fans that a squash match — Rory MacDonald vs. Che Mills — was some kind of epic duel between two young lions. There was only one prospect in that fight, and it wasn’t Che Mills.
The UFC’s inability to do anything with subtlety ruined the promos for this event, the prelims for this event, and most of the PPV portion of this event. Describing Mills as a “new, dangerous welterweight from the UK” was a gross exaggeration. The British striker was only dangerous if you were a TUF bum or if you suffered an accidental knee injury while fighting him.
During the prelims, Rogan was doing the hard sell. THIS CHE MILLS GUY IS A KILLER. HE’S A MONSTER. HE’S A BADASS. HE BEHEADED NED STARK. HE SHOT BAMBI’S MOTHER. Insane falsehoods like this littered the broadcast. Rogan didn’t stop the bullshit once the main card started, either.
We got treated with pro-wrestling-level fakeness about how Che Mills was on MacDonald’s level up until MacDonald, predictably, ran through Mills.
Thus, the only thing that got killed at UFC 145 was Mills’s career.
Since then, Mills hasn’t legitimately won a fight, unless you count Duane Ludwig’s freak injury as a legit win. Earlier this month, Mills lost via TKO to Irishman Cathal Pendred (never heard of him either) at a CWFC event in Ireland.
Couture vs. Toney didn’t headline the UFC 118 PPV — Frankie Edgar vs. BJ Penn had that honor — but it was a large part of the event’s marketing.
Dana/The Zuffa hype machine gave out reasons why the fight wasn’t bullshit and why you should buy the PPV. They cited the statistic that James Toney had more knockouts than Randy Couture had fights and trotted out the tired, near-meaningless phrase “you never know what’s gonna happen in a fight” again and again.
Forget the fact that pure boxers had tried to ply their craft in the UFC twice and had failed, DANA WHITE is telling you James Toney has a chance so it must be right and you better buy the PPV so you can see the upset of a lifetime!
Toney’s ass-crack being visible at the weigh-ins foreshadowed the shittyness to come. The match ended the way everybody thought it would, with Toney having laughably bad MMA skills (he didn’t even know how to tap out correctly) and Couture effortlessly submitting him.
When the UFC was founded, one of the bigger issues was how to market it.
The American public had long been familiar with the typical Asian martial arts bushido bullshit thanks to the wave of interest inspired by movies ranging from Enter the Dragon to The Karate Kid. But the UFC was more than just karate guys and katas. It was the world’s toughest and purest fighting tournament. How, exactly, are you supposed to sell that?
McLaren was the man in charge of the UFC’s marketing in 1993. His strategy was to make the UFC appear as anything BUT a sport. To McLaren, the UFC had to be presented as Mortal Kombat without the thunder gods and four-armed Shokan princes.
The result of this policy was the enthusiastic yet ultimately self-defeating “BANNED IN 49 STATES. FIGHTS END VIA KNOCKOUT, SUBMISSION, OR DEATH” marketing campaign that piqued the interest of martial arts enthusiasts, street brawlers, and pornography theater owners.
4. Revenge Is a Dish Best Served on a Lackluster PPV Main Event.
(Source: MMAWeekly)
Remember Chuck Liddell’s “fearsome” title reign where he allegedly fought the best light-heavyweights in the world?
Yeah, we’re gonna talk about that for a second.
Riding high off capturing the UFC light heavyweight crown from Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell was pitted against Jeremy Horn. It was a peculiar match to make seeing as Horn hadn’t been in the UFC since a 2001 loss to Elvis Sinosic, of all people.
So why rush Horn to the front of the title-shot line?
Well, one theory is that Horn’s victory over the legendary Spencer Canup impressed Dana White so much that he had no other choice than to give Horn the title shot.
Another, equally likely theory, is that Liddell’s 1999 loss to Horn was a great pretext for a “REVENGE! GRUDGE MATCH!” angle straight out of the WWE’s playbook. Liddell got to avenge his loss, Horn lost some brain cells, and MMA fans lost a few hours and $40.
The UFC couldn’t survive if Tito Ortiz kept fighting the likes of Elvis Sinosic (that’s two Sinosic mentions in one article, if anyone is keeping count). The UFC needed established names. Ken Shamrock was an established name.
Yes, he was coming off a loss when he was brought in to fight Tito Ortiz for the first time in 2002 but that didn’t matter. Everybody remembered Ken Shamrock thanks to his status as a UFC Legend™ and thanks to his time in the WWE.
“Here are two guys who DON’T LIKE EACH OTHER!” “Watch the DISRESPECTFUL, UPSTART PUNK trash talk the RESPECTFUL VETERAN”
Ironically, the hype around the feud was all real. Shamrock’s Lion’s Den and Tito Ortiz had legitimate beef with one another. Thus, matching up him an Ortiz was an easy sell. But the reason this hook was so terrible was that Shamrock was no match for Ortiz. Shamrock wasn’t a roided-up superman anymore. He was Samson without his hair, Batman without his money, Chael Sonnen without TRT.
Yeah, great they don’t like each other. That doesn’t mean a fight between them made sense because, quite frankly, it didn’t. It was a cash-grab and attention whoring.
And it worked — so well, in fact, that they did it again twice. Shamrock would face Ortiz four years later on another PPV, UFC 61, and on a UFC Fight Night card called “Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3: The Final Chapter” just three months after that. Both of those fights ended in first-round TKO wins for Ortiz.
On the next page: A legend gets executed, “fun fights” (aka “squash matches”) and the absurd bullshit that actually turned out to be true.
hope they have guns !,” 
