This content is protected It goes into his childhood, athletic career and start into pro wrestling and MMA. It is interesting if you are a fan of the guy or just crave info but in all honesty I found it trying. It is long, ego driven and exaggerated while he always has some excuse and comes off like a bit of a self centered jerk. Excuses for losses. Claims to have benched 605. Got cut by the Chargers but said he chose not to play for them because he did not want to rely on other people to win.
That's Shamrock for ya! Great during his day but he's always come off as a ego driven douche who tells fantastical tales and excuse maker outside of the cage. Big fan of his earlier career though. I think he would have held his own at his best.... Hurt a young Ortiz and nearly subbed Franklin despite being shot to bits.
I think he is over rated even for his prime. Still laughing over the 605 bench claim, 585 in a competition. LOL He would have been in the 220 lb weightclass or the next one up 242. A lift like that in a raw meet would have easliy made him a top 5 bencher in the World at 220. The story about not wanting to play for the Chargers because he did not want to rely on others to help him win was true delusion. No mention that they actually cut him. Odd how when guys like him age they do not lose any of their arrogance or bombast. The tales just get taller while looks and physical strength go away but all the annoying things just seem to exacerbate.
Overrated? Yeah maybe. But still pretty damn good. Yeah don't buy that one bit.... I know there's a video of Abbott doing close to that with a chest bounce, but he's probably physically stronger than Shamrock despite his frame, and even he probably couldn't get close without that kind of trick. Yeah could never stand listening to Shamrock talk.... Only so much whining, excuse making and delusions of grandeur that a sane person can stomach in such a short amount of time.
Yeah David Abbott could bounce 585 off his chest but he weighed like 265 or more when he was lifting for strength. Problem is that in a sanctioned meet you have to pasue the bar motionless on your chest for at least a secon until the head judge gives you a veerbal press command. Which Shamrock claimed to have done 585 under those rules. The next highest bench from an elite fighter I can recall is someone in Coleman's camp claiming he did a 555bench in training. Others have claimed much higher but guys like Kerr and Lesnar were around 475-495. There was an average fighter who trained under Caesar Gracie named "Tarzan" Douglas that had witnesses claim he could do 440 and he fought at 170 but no doubt weighed more during training when he made that lift.
Shamrock was a great talent. I think like his younger brother he was very well rounded (not as much, but far more than others in his era). I meant let's be honest as well, lots of his losses can be excused to some degree or another. In Pancrase he avenged every loss aside from Suzuki and without the rope release rule he'd have beaten him as well. In UFC he realistically avenged his loss to Gracie there just wasn't a judge there to recognise it. The lesd said about the Severn loss the better. He was bossing Fujita until his health issues caught up with him. The loss to Frye could have gone either way. Ortiz and Franklin overwhelmed him with youth and aggression. Realistically speaking you could have a situation where by the age of 38 he's beaten everyone he's ever fought and he's competed in over 30 contests. Ortiz ruined him but by then his legacy is well set. As a LHW he's always gonna be very difficult to beat. As an acid test would you expect Belfort or Rogerio to beat him over 3 rounds at 205 pounds?
Shamrock did have elite athleticism. You only had to watch him shoot in the early UFC days. He was like lightning. I think if he came along today as a teenager he'd wind up being a top 5 fighter if not a Champ at 185 and\or 205. He has always overrated his striking ability. His borderline Narcissism makes it hard to like him at times but you never know how much of that is self promotion.
It always surprised me how his early nickname was one punch. He was never a striker, he was good with his hands but his game was always submissions.
He claims to be an excellent striker with several pro boxing and kickboxing fights. LOL Where everyone gets the idea he was some submission master is also beyond me. The guy could not finish a RNC on kimbo FFS. I think ken is the one guy more insufferable than Bas Rutten.
****ing Coker was making Bellator a circus act for a while.... Now it's recovering and becoming more legitimate again... While the UFC takes a turn at being the circus!
Yeah... they had that and Gracie/Shamrock on the same card right? Lol. What a ****ing joke. For a while I thought Coker was trying to sink the company... The executives at Viacom probably had a good long talk with him after a couple of those joke fights/cards he put together.
Mark Kerr... who seems a tad bit more honest than Ken, said he benched around 450 I believe in his prime. There is NO WAY Shamrock was that much stronger than prime Kerr. There are also claims of Coleman benching 600. Not buying it!