Will Ken Shamrock make it to his fight with 'Kimbo Slice' in June? | Photo: D. Mandel/Sherdog.com
Until they announced the fight with Kimbo, it didn't dawn on me that Ken Shamrock was actually 51 years old. He's been fighting for over 20 years! Is it even a foregone conclusion that Missouri will license him to fight Kimbo? Do we have to consider Seth Petruzelli as a late replacement here?
Brian Knapp, features editor: Farces have always had a place in MMA, and until the public no longer shows and appetite for such fights, we are going to continue to get them. The Ultimate Fighting Championship did, after all, ink a professional wrestler with no professional mixed martial arts experience to a contract not too long ago; and plenty of people will be lining up to see Phil Brooks when he does finally enter the Octagon. Fight promoters, for better are worse, are in this business to make money.
I guess Bellator President Scott Coker was feeling a special sense of EliteXC nostalgia when he made this match. Where have you gone, Jared Shaw, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you. I was actually assigned to cover EliteXC “Heat” in Sunrise, Fla., where Slice and Shamrock were scheduled to headline an event on Oct. 4, 2008. As we all know, Shamrock suffered a cut from a clash of heads during a “light workout” the day of the fight. He was replaced by Petruzelli, who proceeded to bury the Slice myth in 14 seconds, sending CBS announcer Gus Johnson into utter hysterics on the air. EliteXC staged just one more event before going belly up.
The Slice-Shamrock matchup was as ill-conceived then as it is now. With that said, unless something shows up on Shamrock’s pre-fight medicals, one has to believe he is going to be cleared to fight. I do not suppose age on its own is a reason to deny someone the right to compete. Yes, Shamrock is 51, but Slice is no spring chicken at 41. Neither man has fought since 2010. Maybe this can be the start of a legends division for Bellator.
The outcome you outlined seems like a safe bet, as Shamrock’s chin disappeared long ago, leaving him vulnerable to light hitters, much less someone with Slice’s power. I guess some of us could cling to the thought that “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” might channel his inner blind squirrel, latch onto a foot or a leg, find a nut and tap everyone’s favorite boatyard brawler; or maybe Shamrock will crack heads with some backstage again, leading Petruzelli in all his pink-haired glory to emerge from the crowd to face Slice one more time. We can only hope.
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