BringBackHeadbutts -I understand what you say, but when there is 2, 3, 4, multiple examples of "questionable" things that happen, you have to wonder.
Sure.
But do you know that Ken broke his neck wrestling in high school?
He was told to avoid contact sports after that.
He had a pro wrestling career before MMA.
He had a very active MMA career in the 90s.
Then went to WWF for another 4+ years.
Before getting back into MMA.
And Ken had recently been back at pro wrestling AGAIN!
At this point, he kind of reminds me of a Mickey Rourke type character.
Self destructive to the end.
He showed a lot of heart in the first Tito fight.
He legit out- Kimo again in the rematch.
Against Franklin, he was once again at a smaller weight against a current, in-shape and solid fighter.
You don’t think Ken might have been throwing desperate hail-marys vs Franklin??
He probably knew if they both really dug in – he would get out MMAd, out worked, and out cardio’d.
Have you ever met a guy who was just a “hard-case”??
A guy who seemed to find ways to fuck himself at every turn – even when the opportunity to succeed was within reach??
Ken Shamrock actually had a lot of success in the first part of his MMA career.
He truly accomplished more than most.
Other than the first Royce fight in UFC 1, nobody was ever really able to kick his ass.
Sure, he had a couple lackluster performances.
But that was more him falling short of his potential, than his opponent truly getting the better of him.
Between Royce in UFC 1 – and Tito at UFC 40 – name one fighter that truly kicked Ken’s ass physically.
He gassed against Fujita but was winning until that point.
The Frye fight was competitive-- but Ken broke both his legs and Frye was saved by the bell twice.
Hell… Ken even had a kickboxing rules fight with world- Lobeman – and he at the very least proved his toughness in the loss.
Ken tends to get a bad rap from people who don’t really know the entire story.
Yes… there are some “fishy” occurrences during the backside of his career.
Yes… he did continue fighting well past the time he should have retired.
But I can make at least a 50/50 argument for a legitimate loss, in every downside fight people seem so certain he threw.