Ken Shamrock

Fighting for a living is a lot like teasing a really mean dog: you can’t do it forever without something bad happening to you.  Even the great ones get to a point where their drive becomes sluggish and their bellies are too full for them to stay hungry, and that’s usually when a particularly bad beating takes what remaining fire they have and douses it with the fury of a God pissing on your dreams.  It doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll quit right then, even if they should, but it does mean that they’ll never be the same again.  Here now, in chronological order, are the most notorious breaking points in MMA history.

IGOR ZINOVIEV vs. FRANK SHAMROCK at UFC 16, 3/13/98

It’s hard to say that Igor Zinoviev was really on his way to being a legend of the sport, because he got stopped almost before he really got started.  The former Soviet Army commando was one of the first fighters in the early days of MMA to beat a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt when he TKO’d Mario Sperry, and he took out Enson Inoue the next year.  All this came after years of fighting underground brawls in Brooklyn warehouses following the fall of the Soviet Union, so his toughness was never in question.

When he joined the UFC the future was, as they say, wide open.  Then he came up against Frank Shamrock, who wasted no time in scooping him up and slamming him down so viciously that it shattered his collarbone and knocked him out cold.  It was Zinoviev's first career loss, and he would never fight again after that.  We’re not saying the devastating finish served as the catalyst for Shamrock’s out of control ego over the next 10+ years, but we’re not saying it helped, either.

(Props: the UG)

Bruce Buffer may be the last sure thing left in the UFC.  Here's footage of him introducing Anderson Silva at UFC 97 and making it into an event all its own.  Check out the hops on the Buff.  Who knew?  It used to be that Silva was guaranteed to give you your money's worth.  With him not wanting to "risk" his belt, those days may be over.  At least Buffer still knows how to deliver.

After the jump, Ken Shamrock prepares to make his UFC comeback against an opponent who's just his style.

('Who me?')

Our good friend Ariel Helwani over at Versus.com has the scoop on Ken Shamrock’s replacement against Bobby Lashley for Roy Jones Jr’s “March Badness” event, and it’s Jason Guida, brother of UFC lightweight Clay Guida.  If that name sounds familiar for another reason, it’s probably because Guida was scheduled to be a participant for season eight of “The Ultimate Fighter,” but couldn’t make weight and was ruled ineligible after much pain and suffering and exposure of genitals.  Now the 17-19 Guida will take on Lashley, who’s appearing in just his second pro fight.

As late replacements go, this isn’t a terrible one.  Guida is experienced, though not exactly a stand-out.  The guy’s lost his last three fights and has competed in an array of different weight classes with very mixed (read: unremarkable) results.  But at least he’s not really old and – judging from his physique – doesn’t seem to be on steroids.  He's also a passionate cornerman, for what that's worth.

Though Guida lacks the name recognition of Shamrock, he’s the kind of fighter who a hot prospect like Lashley ought to be able to beat if he is indeed a hot prospect.  If he can’t, then he isn’t.  Simple as that.  Now please, don't anybody go and do something to screw this thing up.

Such is the sad life of Ken Shamrock — even when he manages to snap a five-fight losing streak by submitting a morbidly obese man with no submission defense or the ability to get to his feet after he's fallen to the mat, he still had to cheat in order to do it. Kevin Iole passes along the bad (though fairly unsurprising) news:

Well hey, it looks like his brother Frank was right all along. But of course, nobody in this sport actually takes steroids — they simply take legal supplements that happen to secretly have steroids in them. And Ken is hoping that this dependable defense will keep him out of hot water:

(Props: KahL)

Inspired by such HL-vid masters as Genghis Con, RVR, and Robert Park, a shadowy figure known as KahL-One has gotten into the MMA-film game with this tribute to Demian Maia, spanning Maia's early fights to his current training with Wanderlei Silva. As you can tell from the intro, KahL seems to think that Demian is the second coming of Rickson — and maybe he's right.

Below: Ken Shamrock shared his tale of personal redemption at the Fighting With God conference in January, and revealed the source of his early struggles — he wasn't hugged enough as a child. No, seriously. This video cobbles together the highlights of his speaking appearance, where he gave the lowdown of life with his adoptive father Bob, losing to "a guy in pajamas" at UFC 1, cheating on his wife and the sport ('roids?), and loving Jesus. A rare insight into the psyche of the World's Most Dangerous Man. 

After the jump: A weak old man gets beat up by an MMA fighter. And believe it or not, you will be rooting for the MMA fighter.