Dewey's Diva
07-08-2006, 04:18 PM
http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5766542
Shamrock-Ortiz a last shot at redemption
Dave Doyle / FOXSports.com
Posted: 14 hours ago
Ken Shamrock is rightly known as a legend in the sport of mixed martial arts. His history with the Ultimate Fighting Championship dates back to the inaugural event in 1993. He has competed all over the world. He's in the UFC Hall of Fame.
And yet, as of today, Shamrock is likely to be best remembered as a foil to his long-time nemesis, Tito Ortiz. The brash former UFC light heavyweight champion, known as The Huntington Beach Bad Boy, is everything Shamrock isn't ... loud, sometimes obnoxious, sometimes rude, always saying exactly what's on his mind.
But Shamrock has a chance to get the last laugh. In what he readily acknowledges might be his last shot in the big-money spotlight, Shamrock and Ortiz will square off at UFC 61: Bitter Rivals at the sold-out Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
"Sometimes in life and in sports, you meet people you just don't like," said the 42-year-old Shamrock. "It isn't just in UFC, it happens in every sport. You get two top athletes that see things differently. I don't know what Tito's like away from the sport, but the way he conducts himself is against everything I've been taught."
Ortiz isn't afraid to return fire. "I don't like him. I never did like him. I never will like him," says the 31-year-old Ortiz, who returned to the UFC in April and defeated Forrest Griffin in a hard-fought decision. "People ask me all the time if this is real. It can't get any more real."
To understand the depths of Shamrock's venom toward Ortiz, one has to look at Shamrock's history in the sport. Shamrock lost to Royce Gracie in the semifinals of the inaugural UFC tournament in 1993. Their rematch at UFC 5 in 1995 was the first UFC match with a time limit, as the two fought for the allotted 30 minutes, then went another five-minute overtime before the fight was declared a draw.
At UFC 6, Shamrock became the first UFC Superfight champion, defeating Dan "The Beast" Severn by submission in 2:14. While the lineage of the current heavyweight title held by Tim Sylvia traces back to the Superfight title, at the time, it was the only belt defended in UFC as there were no weight classes. Shamrock successfully defended the title in a draw against Oleg Taktarov and a win over Kimo Leopoldo before dropping the belt to Severn in a rematch after 30 minutes via judges' decision.
Shamrock was also the sport's most public face when UFC was subjected to a witch hunt and turned into the manufactured political controversy du jour in the mid-1990s among politicians looking for an easy sound bite and vapid television talking heads.
"Whenever you saw those idiot talk shows talking about how we were 'human cockfighting,' the clip was of me," said Shamrock. "I was the one who was being held out there and called an animal and a barbarian. I was the one who was having my athletic ability disrespected. If UFC went down, I'm the one who would have went down with it. I stuck my neck out for the sport and for the company."
So Shamrock, with his old-school sensibilities, didn't take kindly to Ortiz's cockiness when The Huntington Beach Bad Boy burst on to the scene. Tensions first flared at UFC 19 in 1999 when Ortiz beat Shamrock prot?g? Guy Metzger on strikes, then donned a profane t-shirt making fun of Metzger.
"You don't do that," said Shamrock. "You just don't disrespect people in this sport like that."
The underlying resentment simmered until the first Ortiz-Shamrock match, at UFC 40 in Nov. 2002. This was Shamrock's first UFC fight in almost six years, and Ortiz got the better of him, battering him for three rounds before Shamrock's corner refused to let him go out for the fourth. The beef between the two translated into big box office, as UFC 40 was the company's biggest-grossing fight until business exploded this year.
"I beat him the first time," said Ortiz. "It was fun. I can't wait to do it again."
Shamrock also knows that for all the aggravation Ortiz has caused him over the years, he can get the last laugh by pulling off the upset. Right now, Ortiz is hotter than ever, even more than during his three-year reign as UFC light heavyweight champion. Ortiz's already legendary 15-minute battle with Forrest Griffin at UFC in Anaheim was the sort that made both bigger stars and demands a big-money rematch down the road. Ortiz's role as a coach against Shamrock in making The Ultimate Fighter 3 the highest-ranking season of the series made him a bigger mainstream star than ever.
If Ortiz continues his momentum, a potential rematch against light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell could top all of UFC's gate and pay-per-view buy rate records.
But the big-money shot at Liddell could go out the window if Ortiz can't get the better of his veteran opponent.
"I know what this is all about," said Shamrock, whose last appearance in the UFC octagon was a first-round loss to current middleweight champion Rich Franklin in April 2005. "I know this is one last chance to get the big money. I know Tito is still in his prime, I know he's still a contender, and I know that everyone thinks I'm supposed to take a beating and go home."
For his part, Ortiz continues to play the bad boy role that has gotten under Shamrock's skin since day one.
"What am I going to do this time?" Ortiz asked. "Last time we fought I beat him all over the octagon. Am I going to try something different this time? Am I going to do more than the same? Am I going to go for a quick knockout? You're all going to have to buy the pay-per-view and find out. I'm going to beat him one more time and then I'm going after Chuck so I can get my belt back. The people need to tune in and see what I'm going to do this time."
Heading into the fight, much has been made about the status of Ortiz's left knee, which was injured during the taping of Ultimate Fighter 3 and then exacerbated in the fight with Griffin. Ortiz's first prognosis was of a partially torn ACL, but a second doctor stated the injury was simply a strained ligament.
"The knee is fine, said Ortiz. "The knee's doing great. I beat Forrest at 60 percent, now I'm going to beat Ken at 100 percent."
"The talk about the knee is bullcrap," said Shamrock, who himself fought through a knee injury in his last fight with Ortiz. "It's gotta stop. Tito wants it both ways. He wants to act like he's not hurt, but he wants people to talk about his knee, so if I beat him, he has his built-in excuse.
"Let me tell you something," a heated Shamrock continued. "I've had torn ACLs. I've undergone reconstructive surgery. There's a difference between being hurt and having your knee torn. If your knee is hurt, quit crying, we all fight hurt. You can fight on a hurt knee. But his knee isn't hurt anywhere near as bad as they're trying to claim."
Shamrock, who knows he's an underdog, leaves parting words for Ortiz.
"Tito can taunt me, he can laugh, he can do whatever he wants. But all I'll say is, don't count me out. Don't underestimate me."
Shamrock-Ortiz a last shot at redemption
Dave Doyle / FOXSports.com
Posted: 14 hours ago
Ken Shamrock is rightly known as a legend in the sport of mixed martial arts. His history with the Ultimate Fighting Championship dates back to the inaugural event in 1993. He has competed all over the world. He's in the UFC Hall of Fame.
And yet, as of today, Shamrock is likely to be best remembered as a foil to his long-time nemesis, Tito Ortiz. The brash former UFC light heavyweight champion, known as The Huntington Beach Bad Boy, is everything Shamrock isn't ... loud, sometimes obnoxious, sometimes rude, always saying exactly what's on his mind.
But Shamrock has a chance to get the last laugh. In what he readily acknowledges might be his last shot in the big-money spotlight, Shamrock and Ortiz will square off at UFC 61: Bitter Rivals at the sold-out Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
"Sometimes in life and in sports, you meet people you just don't like," said the 42-year-old Shamrock. "It isn't just in UFC, it happens in every sport. You get two top athletes that see things differently. I don't know what Tito's like away from the sport, but the way he conducts himself is against everything I've been taught."
Ortiz isn't afraid to return fire. "I don't like him. I never did like him. I never will like him," says the 31-year-old Ortiz, who returned to the UFC in April and defeated Forrest Griffin in a hard-fought decision. "People ask me all the time if this is real. It can't get any more real."
To understand the depths of Shamrock's venom toward Ortiz, one has to look at Shamrock's history in the sport. Shamrock lost to Royce Gracie in the semifinals of the inaugural UFC tournament in 1993. Their rematch at UFC 5 in 1995 was the first UFC match with a time limit, as the two fought for the allotted 30 minutes, then went another five-minute overtime before the fight was declared a draw.
At UFC 6, Shamrock became the first UFC Superfight champion, defeating Dan "The Beast" Severn by submission in 2:14. While the lineage of the current heavyweight title held by Tim Sylvia traces back to the Superfight title, at the time, it was the only belt defended in UFC as there were no weight classes. Shamrock successfully defended the title in a draw against Oleg Taktarov and a win over Kimo Leopoldo before dropping the belt to Severn in a rematch after 30 minutes via judges' decision.
Shamrock was also the sport's most public face when UFC was subjected to a witch hunt and turned into the manufactured political controversy du jour in the mid-1990s among politicians looking for an easy sound bite and vapid television talking heads.
"Whenever you saw those idiot talk shows talking about how we were 'human cockfighting,' the clip was of me," said Shamrock. "I was the one who was being held out there and called an animal and a barbarian. I was the one who was having my athletic ability disrespected. If UFC went down, I'm the one who would have went down with it. I stuck my neck out for the sport and for the company."
So Shamrock, with his old-school sensibilities, didn't take kindly to Ortiz's cockiness when The Huntington Beach Bad Boy burst on to the scene. Tensions first flared at UFC 19 in 1999 when Ortiz beat Shamrock prot?g? Guy Metzger on strikes, then donned a profane t-shirt making fun of Metzger.
"You don't do that," said Shamrock. "You just don't disrespect people in this sport like that."
The underlying resentment simmered until the first Ortiz-Shamrock match, at UFC 40 in Nov. 2002. This was Shamrock's first UFC fight in almost six years, and Ortiz got the better of him, battering him for three rounds before Shamrock's corner refused to let him go out for the fourth. The beef between the two translated into big box office, as UFC 40 was the company's biggest-grossing fight until business exploded this year.
"I beat him the first time," said Ortiz. "It was fun. I can't wait to do it again."
Shamrock also knows that for all the aggravation Ortiz has caused him over the years, he can get the last laugh by pulling off the upset. Right now, Ortiz is hotter than ever, even more than during his three-year reign as UFC light heavyweight champion. Ortiz's already legendary 15-minute battle with Forrest Griffin at UFC in Anaheim was the sort that made both bigger stars and demands a big-money rematch down the road. Ortiz's role as a coach against Shamrock in making The Ultimate Fighter 3 the highest-ranking season of the series made him a bigger mainstream star than ever.
If Ortiz continues his momentum, a potential rematch against light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell could top all of UFC's gate and pay-per-view buy rate records.
But the big-money shot at Liddell could go out the window if Ortiz can't get the better of his veteran opponent.
"I know what this is all about," said Shamrock, whose last appearance in the UFC octagon was a first-round loss to current middleweight champion Rich Franklin in April 2005. "I know this is one last chance to get the big money. I know Tito is still in his prime, I know he's still a contender, and I know that everyone thinks I'm supposed to take a beating and go home."
For his part, Ortiz continues to play the bad boy role that has gotten under Shamrock's skin since day one.
"What am I going to do this time?" Ortiz asked. "Last time we fought I beat him all over the octagon. Am I going to try something different this time? Am I going to do more than the same? Am I going to go for a quick knockout? You're all going to have to buy the pay-per-view and find out. I'm going to beat him one more time and then I'm going after Chuck so I can get my belt back. The people need to tune in and see what I'm going to do this time."
Heading into the fight, much has been made about the status of Ortiz's left knee, which was injured during the taping of Ultimate Fighter 3 and then exacerbated in the fight with Griffin. Ortiz's first prognosis was of a partially torn ACL, but a second doctor stated the injury was simply a strained ligament.
"The knee is fine, said Ortiz. "The knee's doing great. I beat Forrest at 60 percent, now I'm going to beat Ken at 100 percent."
"The talk about the knee is bullcrap," said Shamrock, who himself fought through a knee injury in his last fight with Ortiz. "It's gotta stop. Tito wants it both ways. He wants to act like he's not hurt, but he wants people to talk about his knee, so if I beat him, he has his built-in excuse.
"Let me tell you something," a heated Shamrock continued. "I've had torn ACLs. I've undergone reconstructive surgery. There's a difference between being hurt and having your knee torn. If your knee is hurt, quit crying, we all fight hurt. You can fight on a hurt knee. But his knee isn't hurt anywhere near as bad as they're trying to claim."
Shamrock, who knows he's an underdog, leaves parting words for Ortiz.
"Tito can taunt me, he can laugh, he can do whatever he wants. But all I'll say is, don't count me out. Don't underestimate me."