Also did you spend any time in the pancrase dojo/ have any experiences with the japanese side of the organisation?
That’s weird, out of all my friends, family and teammates at the Den you’re the only on e not say Funaki. Funaki came to Lodi for a week with his wife.Tina, Cimone and Mika went shopping all week and Funaki came to spar with me, I believe they were trying to set up another big Thai boxing match with a big name Dutch guy. So we sparred for awhile and then he got out of the ring told me I was ready to go. Funaki and Suzuki also came in the beginning of Pancrase to have me signed my new contract. They also came to a few UFC’s. Funaki was Kool dude and I liked his company but he was really Ken’s friend and had been for along time. You are the only one to figure it out. Takahashi and myself got along real well because we’re both quiet, like to do our own thing,really kicked the newer fighters asses way harder than anybody else. He was a all around pleasant guy to hang out with. And yeah every month we spent 10 days in Japan so we trained there everyday except fight day and spent alot of time there,sparring, rollin, listening to Suzuki or Funaki about submissions and eating
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ever had substance abuse issues?
One of the rumours back in the day for the (Ken) Shamrock vs. Taktarov UFC match was that Ken sent some female ‘escorts’ to Oleg’s room the night before the match in an attempt to deprive Oleg of some of his …uh… stamina. Did you ever hear of that, and does it sound typical?
The match itself was a stall-fest draw perhaps rivalled only by the Ken vs. Severn circle-fest in UFC screentime for inaction.
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Was wondering when you were going to get in here.
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In Ken’s book the LD guys said Ken was coming down from ecstasy when fighting Taktarov. Forget who said it.
He was out partying all night before the fight.
Guess he wasn’t worried about Oleg.
Just rewatched Enson vs Frank & Lober vs Frank 1. There is a drastic change in style & performance. Enson vs Frank looks like the first modern MMA fight with solid conditioning & standup at a high pace. I can’t name a Ken Shamrock fight where he looked comparably as good. Vs Lober 1, Frank was slow & plodding fighting like one of his Pancrase fights. One strike at a time & try for a takedown submission.
I understand in training back at the Den he was chum, but to my eyes, his fights show a drastic difference in ability/skills/performance during his run compared to when he was with the Den.
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oleg goes super in depth here on just about everything: ken fight at 30:00
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RE the Kimbo fight.
I think it’s funny when people from an outside perspective seem so sure either way.
So I’m not claiming to know for sure.
But this is my observation of that fight, and it’s relative to Ken’s late career struggles in general.
I think the fight was real, and Ken blew up his arms attempting the choke. By the time he may he have switched it up, I think his arms were balloons and the mobility just wasn’t there.
I don’t know if it ever occured to Ken to switch grips, but if it did it was too late.
This is why I think that…
People just don’t realize the extent of Ken’s injuries, and how much they severely limited his mobility and ability in the ring.
He broke his neck in Highschool, and re-injured it in WWF.
Ken has fuzed disks in his back.
1-4 in his lower back, and 1-7 in his neck.
He also has a titanium ball in his shoulder.
I just don’t think Ken was able to apply the right pressure and arc in the right way to get he leverage he needed – because of his physical limitations. I think he tried to over strength it instead of adjusting position and blew his arms up.
Maybe he thought there was no way he wouldn’t finish it (like most of us probably thought), so he just squeezed – and by the time he realized it wasn’t working, it was too late.
Again, I’m not in Ken’s head.
But that’s what it looked like to me.
People who have never had to work around injuries or maybe younger people, sometimes just can’t grasp how a guy can look to be in great shape – and even be explosive doing bag work or whatever – but still be severely limited in certain movements and areas.
Look at Ken’s takedown at the beginning.
He has no shot left.
The reason he got the takedown and position he did, was because of who his opponent was.
All due hespect to Kimbo – Ken had no business losing to him.
The fact that he did, IMO means he had no business in the ring.
Fight was real, Ken is just that far gone.
That’s how I see it.
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Many people hate Frank Shamrock because he appeared to lack concern for his mother’s dog after she died. What else can you tell us about Frank that would make them hate him even more?
Epic thread.
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Well said
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I don’t have an addictive part of me. I believe it’s not addiction it’s a weakness. So I could go from college football my freshman year til when I retired from fighting so I went 16yrs taking around 30 to 50 Norcos and fiorinal3’s a day then just quit
So like every college athlete in the 1980’s I did mass amounts of Pablo Escabars coke and whatever painkillers I wanted cuz the team doctor in ball and the doctors in fighting wrote us scripts for whatever we wanted and how much anytime we asked them to. When I retired I quit. Don’t smoke and don’t drink.
Back in the early UFC’s I’m sure that they paid for hotel & travel for fighters.But how many cornerman got their hotel & travel paid for?
Say for example the Lion’s Den fighters.
Hard to remember all the shit we did before and after fights.maybe or maybe not.he never said anything to me cuz I would have been like what the fuck dude are you stupid or punch drunk but he didn’t cuz we were friends and none of the other fighters would ever talk to him like that outta fear. I didn’t give a fuck cuz I always thought the only thing he can do worse to me at the Den is kill me,lol. So no clue,sorry bro
Since we were lion’s den we got paid 5 times more then the other guys,could go out to ufc whenever we wanted instead of the 3days all the other fighters did. Once Ken and I went 3 weeks early. Our per diem every fighter got their own
Fighter,cornermen,big John’s wife Elaine was our travel agent and handed out the per diems always made sure we had more than we needed so when our wives came out. Sometimes my per diem which was cash was more than some alternates and fighters got paid to fight.
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Yeah,I wondered how many got their shit paid for.Sometimes it seems like there were up to 8 guys in there & wondered if they themselves paid to support their team.
Since I can’t feel hate I’ll wing it,lol. He was and still is completely and utterly delusional. He puts himself in a category that he can’t even comprehend much less thrive in. One of my buddies, Jughead saw frank in a bar in Stockton went over to say hi since he had just got out the pen after a 10yr bit for bank robbery. Frank got all shifty saying do you know who I am? Jughead took his pistol outta his waistband and said I know exactly who you are and for disrespecting me in front of my crew right there you can either take your candy ass out here now or you will never leave. Frank jumped up and split. Frank acts like a tough guy but is a very selfish little boy that will never swim with the sharks
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No lol people paid us
Typical for a majority of boxers,mma,nhb,Muay Thai and football players. By the time they force themselves to retire it’s already been years to late.body and mind are shot
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