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By Lee Casebolt
Once he was referred to, derogatorily, as “Ken Shamroid,” a reference to his sculpted – but suspect – physique in a sport he then co-dominated with a lanky Brazilian and a doughy wrestler. Now he is mocked as “Can Shamrock” due to his greatly diminished skills. Ken Shamrock has been derided for winning fights (“work!”), losing fights (“Petey, my heart!”), neither winning nor losing a fight (“boring!”), and making some admittedly unfortunate facial hair decisions. From the height of his powers to the depths of his (relative) dotage, Ken Shamrock can’t get a break.

What he can get is a contract. Just days ago, Ken and his son Ryan were signed by EliteXC. Though terms of the contract have not been disclosed, one presumes that the man who helped attract some of the largest PPV buyrates in UFC history didn’t get lowballed too badly. One further presumes that you, the well-informed Total MMA reader, knew this already. That being the case you will also have noticed (though certainly not contributed to – you’re better than that) the rather shameful comments that have been directed towards Shamrock as a result of this. “Washed up” would be among the kinder words that’ve been directed his way.

Now, we here at Total MMA fully support the legitimate criticism of fighters, promoters, and officials. As MMA fans and customers, it is our duty to point out the sport’s flaws and shortcomings, that they may be corrected and overcome. There is a line, though, between legitimate criticism and juvenile mudslinging, and the vitriol which has been directed at Shamrock is well over that line. He deserves better and we, as fans, should expect better of ourselves.

Here’s some perspective on Ken Shamrock. When the Gracie family was beating up Hapkido instructors in their Torrance academy, Shamrock was engaging in legitimate mixed martial arts matches against professional fighters in Japan. While the Pancrase organization has been fairly criticized for working matches, including many in which Shamrock was involved, there can be no doubt that Shamrock was legitimately no worse than the second best fighter in a company that included Masa Funaki, Minoru Suzuki, Bas Rutten, Frank Shamrock, Yuki Kondo, Guy Mezger, Vernon White, and Jason Delucia as regular competitors. span>Enter the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

In the two tournaments he entered, again Shamrock can be considered no worse than the second best fighter in the field. With the exception of Royce Gracie, no one in the early days of the UFC had a tenth of the competitive submission experience of Shamrock, nor as much practical experience in the blending of striking and grappling skills. That he didn’t make the finals of UFC 1 is a fluke of bracketing, that he didn’t win UFC 3 a matter of desire. Ken Shamrock would have absolutely destroyed Gerard Gordeau or Kevin Rosier in a differently bracketed UFC 1. Likewise, Harold Howard would not have been able to prevent Shamrock from taking the UFC 3 crown, regardless of the state of Shamrock’s knee. As for his much-derided “Superfights” (and, incidentally, whoever decided to make “Superfight” a word has much to answer for), Shamrock has again received a great deal of criticism despite some legitimate accomplishments. He completely shut down the submission attacks of both Royce Gracie and sambo champion Oleg Taktarov. He was the only man of the period who could consistently defend the takedown against Dan Severn. He absolutely manhandled Kimo in arguably his most stylish MMA victory.

Outside the ring, Shamrock pioneered the modern MMA fight camp. The Lion’s Den predated MFS, Chute Boxe, and Team Punishment. It produced Frank Shamrock, Pete Williams, Vernon White, Guy Mezger, Jerry Bohlander, and Jason Delucia, men who have competed for championships around the world. The idea of bringing together men of disparate experience, subjecting them to rigorous physical conditioning, and making available specialists in various aspects of the martial arts may not have originated with Shamrock, but he was the first in the US, at any rate, to do so on any kind of scale.There are legitimate criticisms to be made of Shamrock as a fighter, particularly as a fighter recently signed to a new contract. His accomplishments are frequently tainted in some way, from the worked bouts in Pancrase (though it should be noted that Shamrock’s bouts were generally worked to make him less dominant, rather than more) to the generally dull “Superfights” of the early UFCs. “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” was never any such thing; though certainly among the top fighters of the mid 90s, he was never universally regarded as the best in the way that, say, Fedor is or Matt Hughes was not long ago.

More significantly for EliteXC, he is a soon-to-be-44 year old “leg lock guy and a brawler” in a sport increasingly dominated by twenty something experts in Brazilian Jujitsu, wrestling, and Muay Thai. He hasn’t had an MMA victory of significance since the mid 90s. Shamrock has absorbed an enormous amount of trauma over his career. The idea of his competing at an elite level is frankly ludicrous.

EliteXC presumably knows all this. It is exceedingly unlikely that, in the mind of an EliteXC executive, Shamrock has been signed with the goal of turning him into a world champion. Shamrock is “enhancement talent”. He exists, insofar as his employer is concerned, to entice fans to buy tickets and PPVs while giving younger stars the opportunity to defeat a “legend” and older stars the chance to headline in a “dream fight”. He’s a name to feed to comparatively unknown champions at the light heavyweight and heavyweight level, or to link to other past-their-prime names like Abbott and Shamrock.

Ken Shamrock is a lot of things, some of them nicer than others, but he’s no fool. He was a pro wrestler before (and after, and before) he was a fighter; he knows as well as anyone how the business of promotion works. He cannot possibly, at this stage in his career, expect a different role for himself. His perspective can be heard quite clearly in his comment to Tito Ortiz following their last bout. “We made a lot of money together,” he said, and he was quite right. Despite being the most one-sided feud since USA/Iraq, Ortiz/Shamrock somehow managed to headline a PPV (co-headlining a second), an Ultimate Fight Night, and an entire season of The Ultimate Fighter. He has the opportunity to once again make a lot of money for himself, his promoter, and his opponent(s). For a professional fighter, that’s the goal, isn’t it?

You may, as a fan, have no interest in seeing Ken Shamrock ever fight again. That’s reasonable. I can’t say the prospect makes me all giddy inside, either. You have a simple remedy. Don’t. Don’t buy a ticket. Don’t buy the PPV. Don’t watch the Showtime special presentation. Shamrock gets paid because Shamrock gets other people – his promoters – paid. When the buyrates, ticket sales, and TV ratings go away, so will Ken Shamrock. Until then, let’s not add to the youtube-quality comments being left on MMA message boards around the world. By all means, criticize a fighter for a bad fight, a promoter for a bad signing, or a judge for a lousy decision. That is, as a fan, your right and responsibility. But let’s keep it sensible and coherent. We’ll all be better for it.

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