Do any of you who follow the UFC think Ken Shamrock should retire after that last performance? Or, do you think that his two slips while trying to throw a kick were just anomalies based upon the fact that he was trying some kick boxing techniques that he just learned.
While he is 41, so is Randy Couture who is on top of his game and world champion.
Which should it be for Ken: Retire, or give it one more shot?
I think the last slip opened him open for the first few shots Franklin put on him. He was stunned, and could not recover.
When he slipped the second time it looked like he immediately went into the fetal position without ever attempting a guard.
He still appears to be in good shape but I think his fire is gone.
He should definately consider retirement if he prefers the fetal position over all others…
How great was the Bonnar / Griffin fight?
The Bonner v Griffin fight was amazing. I don’t know if it was the best fight in UFC history like Joe Rogan and others were claiming it to be. The new UFC is cool, but it’s just not the same as it used to be.
In my opinion, yes, Ken should retire, afterall even if he does continue to fight, how many more years out of his do you think he would be worth? I can’t imagine him fighting past 50, maybe they should make age divisions for older fights. Freestyle/greco wrestling has the “masters” division for older people.
Ken comments made it sound like it’s a possibility that he’ll retire. But there’s a lot of odd stuff going on with UFC and things being discussed on various boards. Some include accusations of fixed fights and so on. For anyone else who watched it, what the hell was that first fall to the mat. Franklin didn’t even hit him. I thought Ken did it deliberately in an attempt to confuse Franklin and then go for the heel hook, but it looked odd. I agree that the second slip/fall during the high kick was legit, but he just laid there as Franklin took the mount and then begin dropping fists. Ken did nothing. He was bruised during the interview, so he was definitely hit, but there’s more to it.
Franklin had just signed an 8-fight contract the day before and is being touted as the next poster-child for the UFC’s promotional campaign. Additionally, Spike TV only gave them five minutes for that last match and would have pulled the plug if they started to run overtime. Kinda the same thing with the Forrest/Bonner fight which I feel was either too close to call or could have possibly gone to Bonner instead. Even Forrest was surprised at the ruling when you watch the video again. It was a great stand up fight. Some people, however, are saying that the two were asked to keep it on their feet to help appeal to the Toughman crowd and those potential new fans not familiar with MMA.
Just some odd stuff, whether true or not. I’ve kinda lost as much interest in the UFC especially after implementing the timed rounds and tighter restrictions. PRIDE FC is definitely the better of the two.
Ken should retire or take a more active role in running the UFC… he was totally off sat. night. I would’ve never thought Rich could beat him, but Rich is VERY good.
I never would’ve thought Diego would’ve made it so far… he was a cocky little punk, but he proved his words. New respect for him.
Griffin - I knew he was going all the way. He had that crazy look to him.
All in all, it was a decent show, but there’s some odd stuff going on with the UFC and some interesting things on the boards. May or may not be true.
A lot of talk that Ken threw the match. Spike TV only gave them a set time for the show, and anything that ran over that limit would have been pulled for regular programming. Additionally, Franklin had just signed an 8 fight contract and is being touted as the poster-child for the UFC’s new promotional campaign. And who better to beat on the way to that than a legendary fighter such as Ken (who also did a stint in that fake-ass wrestling crap). He even said the same in his comments at the end. Sounds like he may be getting ready to retire though.
The Forrest/Bonner fight was pretty good. But their’s talk about it as well, that they were asked to keep it on the feet and duke it out. This would appeal to the Toughman crowd and potential new fans who were unfamiliar with MMA. It was a close match and could have gone either way. I thought they were going to go into the 4th round (3-minute sudden death match), but remembered afterwards that there were time restraints for broadcast. Forrest was even surprised he won if you go back and watch his reaction during the announcement of who won. Guarantee they’re going to ply this into a rematch.
There’s an animated gif kicking around which shows Shamrock’s first slip and it looks particularly dubious.
Sorry about submitting an almost duplicate post. Didn’t see the first one pop up. But I agree with you Zell, it looks suspicious.
Add me to the list of those thinking something fishy was up with Shamrock/Franklin.
Those two ‘slips’ were almost identical, and it looked like Ken was surprised Rich didn’t finish him off the first time, so he did the same thing again.
Griffin/Bonnar was an excellent fight, and I would definitely like to see a rematch. I don’t think either of them are quite ready for veteren light HW fighters yet, but they look like they might be around for a while.
Ill add my voice to those saying the shamrock/franklin fight looked very fishy.
I watched it again last night. Both slips were very strange, the first one especially so. Also, Shamrock’s leg locks are known to be very tight, and he had it sunk pretty deep. It did not look to me like he was trying to finish that heel hook very hard. Add to that the TV time thing and Franklin signing a huge contract before the fight and we have to wonder.
If Franklin lost bad, or even lost at all, it would have been very detrimental to the UFC. Shamrock’s time in the fight game is very short, or past entirely. If he won, it would not have done Zuffa any good.
It would not be unprecedented of course…early PRIDE shows had some fixed fights(most notable is Takada vs. Coleman) but we don’t need that crap at this point of the sport’s evolution.
[quote]Zell959 wrote:
There’s an animated gif kicking around which shows Shamrock’s first slip and it looks particularly dubious.[/quote]
Hey Zell, know where I can view that clip?
Personally, I think it was Kens training that did him in. He was training with a kickboxing stud and forgot to stick to his game: Punching and submissions.
Then again, you never know…
[quote]Zell959 wrote:
There’s an animated gif kicking around which shows Shamrock’s first slip and it looks particularly dubious.[/quote]
I haven’t seen the GIF…but the fall look off for some reason. I know that KS picked up some new trainers…so I questioned why he was trying to throw high kicks. It wasn’t like Franklin wouldn’t see them coming. He was alert and quick. Not only that…but the second attempt would’ve been way off for a strike.
I think KS should enjoy the fine weather in San Diego…and train new fighters as they come up. Tiger Wilson is one that made some progress until Liddell was able to catch him on the chin for the KO.
When Shamrock slipped the second time, Franklin didn’t even get a proper mount. He could have and should have gotten away. I was shocked that he just took the beating and lost. That can’t be a good sign for his future viability obviously. Any other explanations for that?
Here’s where you can see the clips. These are of the second “slip” and subsequent mount/finish.
I saw this fight & couldn’t believe he didn’t try something back. He just layed ther w/ his hands up to protect his face. I guess he was shocked from what happened. But guess what, the great ones don’t get stunned!
Maybe it’s time for him to move on. He was a badass for awhile.
Could Ken have possibly been timid? I mean, this kid did look pretty good, and if he was in kens head, I don’t care who you are, it will make you lose if you think you might lose. The slips don’t look that bad, the first looks like he started to shoot and saw a big right hand coming, he then fell back to avoid the huge punch. The second one is a little fishy only for the fact that it doesn’t look like he tried to escape much, but again, maybe he wanted it to go to the ground where he thought he might have the edge.
V
I’ve seen almost every ken shamrock fight, and I can not think of anytime when he’s ever thrown a high kick.
not to mention AGE!!! Have you ever seen randy couture throw a high kick? NO and they’re comparitive ages damn it(bad argument i kno lol)
It reaaaaalllly looks suspicious.