UFC legend Ken Shamrock has opened up on his iconic rivalry with Royce Gracie and the impression their trilogy had on the way forward for combined martial arts.
Shamrock entered the UFC Corridor of Fame because the inaugural inductee into the Pioneer Wing in 2003. His profession spanned a number of generations and helped to jumpstart the UFC’s recognition within the late Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s.
Certainly one of Shamrock’s most memorable parts of his profession was his rivalry with Gracie; one of the impactful grapplers in fight sports activities. Their first combat at UFC 1 again in 1993 got here at some extent through which the UFC was a struggling enterprise seeking to stay afloat.
30 years later, the UFC has change into a juggernaut in fight sports activities and is a world phenomenon. Regardless of their unhealthy blood in the course of the lead-up to their fights, Shamrock and Gracie share mutual respect and understanding of what their fights meant to the UFC’s progress.
Ken Shamrock Praises Gracie Household’s Impression On Blended Martial Arts
Throughout a current interview on the Morning Kombat podcast, Shamrock spoke about his rivalry with Gracie and the place issues stand right now.
“It is a completely different form of respect as a result of a number of the issues that occurred,” Shamrock stated of his relationship with Gracie. “What he did for the UFC is unbelievable. The Gracies modified the world and so they gave us all a profession…
“This starting stage, there was a number of danger, some huge cash spent, and there have been guys who went in there with no understanding of what was going to occur, and nonetheless did it. It is a disgrace that there is not some kind of Corridor of Fame for these guys that put all of it on the road again within the day.”
Shamrock retired following a loss to Gracie at Bellator 149 in 2016. He completed his skilled profession with a 28-17-2 report with wins over the likes of Bas Rutten and Maurice Smith.
Gracie gained the UFC 1 match by successful three fights in a single night time again in November 1993. He went on to have spectacular runs within the UFC, and Pleasure earlier than opting to retire from MMA.
Shamrock and Gracie are two names etched in UFC lore endlessly, and their rivalry helped set the usual for a lot of intense pairings within the fashionable period.
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