During a recent radio appearance, UFC Hall Of Famer Ken Shamrock spoke about the origins of his beef with Kimbo Slice, the man he faces in the main event of the Bellator MMA “Unfinished Business” event on June 20th.
Below are highlights of the Shamrock interview, which aired on Submission Radio:
On Brock Lesnar deciding to retire from MMA and stay in pro wrestling: “I think his choice is whatever he feels he needs to do is going to be the right choice, and don’t second guess yourself. Whatever choice he makes is going to be the right one. He’s a star in both. He’s proved himself in both. So whatever he chooses is going to be the right one for him.”
On what Kimbo said that upset him: “Well, you know, when the thing happened, there were a lot of accusations being said about my cut and how it happened and saying that I didn’t want to fight him, [that] I was afraid of him; which is..come on, that’s ridiculous. I made a living of fighting, and fighting a guy like Kimbo who has no experience whatsoever on the ground, I would spank him like a little child. So it was actually a blessing for him that I didn’t fight, because I don’t believe he would have fought again after that fight; but it was what it was, he said the things that he said. My father was in the hospital, he went into a coma and was going through some complications, and I believe that’s what bothered me the most, was when I was going through these difficult times in my life with someone that had really, you know, gave me an opportunity at life and that was a special person in my life. And then for me to be treated and talked to the way that I was during that time by him and his people, was very disrespectful to me. And that’s one of the reasons why in the back of my mind [I thought], if I ever had the opportunity to fix this unsettled business between me and him, I would jump all over it. And we have that opportunity now for me to be able to go in and to really set the record straight on who Kimbo Slice is and who Ken Shamrock is.”
On the Kimbo fight: “I’m going to get in the ring and I’m going to show people who I am and how my body has responded to training by going in the ring and just destroying Kimbo Slice.”
On fans believing that Kimbo Slice’s is a good striker and Ken’s belief that he’s not good enough to be in MMA: “Kimbo Slice is not a good striker. I don’t know where they’re getting it from. The guy did some boxing with some handpicked opponents that didn’t have chins and that couldn’t box a lick. The fact is that most of them had two left feet. So I don’t know where they’re getting this from. I don’t know how they’re saying this guy is that good. I’ve never thought that he’s been that good. I’ve never even – except for the very first time when I went in and I was going to fight him. I always thought, ‘okay, well obviously he’s winning some of these fights, even though they’re handpicking them. He’s still knocking guys out, so he’s gotta have something there’. When I watched Seth Petruzelli go in against him and do what he did against him, I was pretty much convinced that this guy shouldn’t be in MMA, and not even in boxing. The guy couldn’t even make it in boxing. I mean, they tried to handpick fights, they tried to push him, and I think people have finally realized that this thing, that this phenomenon from the website, the YouTube or whatever he came from, and they put him in the ring, and they handpicked fights for him, and blew him up and did a tremendous job. I’m not hacking on these guys. I thought it was a brilliant job for them to do what they did, and keep him around for as long as they did. That was tremendous. I mean that’s a feat that can’t be done again, I’ll almost bet it can’t be done again. So hats off to them for doing it, but that gig is up.”
