(Reflecting on what might have been.)

Of all the incredulous claims about Kimbo Slice‘s future, it’s starting to seem like very few of them are going to pan out. Though Si.com reported that former Boston police officer Sean Gannon was the front runner to become Slice’s next opponent on the October 4 CBS show, Elite XC’s Jared Shaw told Five Ounces of Pain that the bout definitely won’t be happening. You could interpret this as a sign that Elite XC has officially gotten their collective mind right when it comes to Kimbo Slice matchmaking, but Sam Caplan says the fight was scratched not because it’s a pointless circus bout, but because of Gannon’s “financial demands.”

In other words, Elite XC is perfectly willing to bring YouTube quality fights to network TV, but only if they can do it cheap. Looks like we’re back to either Ken Shamrock or Brett Rogers.

Outside the cage, it looks as if Kimbo will no longer be co-starring with Hulk Hogan in the lovable 3-D children’s film “Kung Fu U.” According to the Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch, things fell apart “due to a misunderstanding among the agents involved with the Kimbo Slice deal” and Stereo Vision has since retracted their press release.

You know what that means? There’s a spot open in a hot new 3-D martial arts movie, and you get to play opposite Hulk Hogan, of “Mr. Nanny” fame! Get those audition tapes ready. Try to make them better than this one.

(This seems like something we should relive on network television, right?)

The rumor mill has been churning this week as to who Elite XC will get to take on Kimbo Slice on their October 4 CBS event, which is being called something of a make-or-break show for the organization. In a new article on Si.com, Josh Gross adds another name to the list: Sean freaking Gannon.

As in, the Boston cop who defeated Slice in an ugly, amateurish brawl back in 2004. As in, the guy who later got a shot in the UFC, only to be trounced by the unremarkable Brandon Lee Hinkle. As in, the guy who is officially 1-1 in MMA competition. That Sean Gannon.

Gross says that difficulty signing Ken Shamrock and concerns that undefeated heavyweight Brett Rogers would actually beat Kimbo (apparently that’s enough to nix an opponent for Slice) are making the Gannon bout a very real possibility at this point.

There are many, many reasons why this is an idiotic idea. To name just one, Gannon isn’t an MMA fighter. He hasn’t competed since 2005, doesn’t seem to be actively pursuing a career in the sport, and hasn’t done anything that would suggest he should be fighting professionally on CBS. He’s just a tough guy who once fought and outlasted Kimbo back in his street brawling days. In other words, this fight would be a major step back for MMA, not to mention one that would happen on network TV.

Let’s all hope that this is nothing more than a vicious, hateful rumor. Let’s hope that when Elite XC executives hear of it, they scoff out loud. Let’s hope that when Brett Rogers hears of it, he doesn’t murder whoever is closest to him. Let’s hope, but let’s not be too shocked if it turns out to be true.

(Up next: a real fight, or a shameless hype match?)

What do you do if you’re Pro Elite and you want to distract people from the bad news regarding event cancellations and concerns that you’re on the verge of going under? You find a way to get Kimbo Slice back in the news. That may be why Elite XC is planning to announce Slice’s opponent for the October 4 event on CBS some time at the end of this week or early next week.

Eite XC representatives supposedly said that the organization is considering three possible opponents for Slice, two of which are “big names” within MMA circles. Since Brett Rogers is probably not considered a big name to anyone other than hardcore fans who want to see him test Slice, it’s fair to assume that the other two names belong to older, past-their-prime fighters.

Ken Shamrock has been rumored as a possible opponent for Kimbo, as has Don Frye. We’d like to dismiss that as idle chatter, if only it didn’t sound so much like something Elite XC would do. Brett Rogers has very cleverly put Elite XC in a position where they almost have to give him Kimbo, or at least they have to if they want to have a chance at Kimbo being taken seriously as a fighter on the rise.

Since that seems low on their list of priorities, the only thing stopping them from tossing an aged and battered Shamrock in there is probably availability and/or price. Fortunately for MMA fans, that may be enough to make the Slice-Rogers fight happen.

In other Pro Elite-related news, the brief stock price explosion is now over. The stock fell from $8.00 to $2.75 on Monday, still a small improvement from the $2.50 mark where it jumped up from on Friday. Hope you sold your shares when you had the chance. And by shares we mean that old Camaro that’s on blocks in your front lawn. And by sold we mean had it towed away before those raccoons made it into a permanent home.

(Gerard Gordeau stomps Kevin Rosier in the semi-finals of UFC 1. Image courtesy of Real Fighter.)

In honor of the upcoming 15th anniversary of UFC 1, Real Fighter magazine has published an incredible oral history called “Starting a Fight,” where all the fighters and organizers involved share their memories about the watershed event. You can (and should) download the article at BloodyElbow. Our favorite bits are below…

***

“Big” John McCarthy: I had put in my application for it. Rorion said, “What are you doing? You can’t fight. You’re with us. When Royce is done, we’ll put you in there.”

Rorion Gracie: We thought of a ring that had a moat and we could put alligators on the outside, [or] chariots running around the ring and dropping the fighters off, people with trumpets and Roman togas announcing them. This is Hollywood.

Art Davie: I don’t think I came up with the moat idea. But the electrified copper fence was mine.

McCarthy: Jimmerson said, “How in the world do you think Royce is going to beat me when I’m flicking out a jab? He can’t get past that.” We went into a back ballroom area and I grabbed him in a double leg and put him on the ground. He looked up at me and said, “Oh, my God. He’s going to break my arms and legs, isn’t he?”

Ken Shamrock: Tuli goes down to his knees and Gerard kicks him in the mouth and his teeth go flying into the front row. Prior to that, everyone [backstage] was hitting pads and trying to hide their fear. It went dead silent.

The Xtreme Fighting Association (XFA) recently announced the signing of Xtreme Couture trainer Shawn Tompkins to a three-fight deal in their K-1 style organization, and while there was initially no word on an opponent we all assumed it would be someone xtreme, like maybe one of those skateboarders from the Mountain Dew commercials. Now MMATraining.com is reporting that Tompkins’ first opponent may be none other than Ken Shamrock:

“I just signed a 3 fight deal with XFA, which is a K-1 kickboxing promotion in Las Vegas. I’ll be doing my first fight September 26th. Between September, December and February. They are looking at my first fight being Ken Shamrock”.

As much as those who train under him love to talk about Tompkins as some kind of Yoda of the fight game, his brief foray into MMA was, shall we say, unsuccessful. Perhaps returning to his roots as a kickboxer is a good idea.

Of course, embarking on a new career as a kickboxer is probably not a good idea for Shamrock, but that never stopped him before. Perhaps Tompkins will have to make an xample out of him. See what I’ve done there? I’m going to go cry now.

(One of these two men is still telling this story.)

What do you do when you’re an over-the-hill fighter who has repeatedly refused to take the dignified route to retirement? Apparently you challenge another over-the-hill fighter who you faced a couple of times back when you were both still relevant to the sport. That’s the only possible explanation for why Ken Shamrock thinks it’s a good idea to call out Royce Gracie like it’s 1995 all over again:

The second time I beat him in every aspect of the fight; in fact his corner had to carry him out. Fans have been calling for a rematch ever since. After this particular fight Royce left the UFC. As a matter of fact I ran the entire Gracie family out of the UFC. His talk is cheap. Let’s settle it in the cage. I heard Royce agree to a rematch three times now, every time he has come up with a reason not to fight me. Royce and my brother Frank should get together and write a book about how to set up fights and not fight.

At least Shamrock’s smack-talking skills haven’t atrophied at the same rate as his physical ones. Where this statement goes from being the typical crazy Shamrock banter to being completely out of touch with reality is when Shamrock claims that “fans have been calling for a rematch ever since.”

Really? Fans want to see a rematch of the thirty-six minute stallfest that ended in a draw? What fans? Where do they live? Could they accurately be described as fully functioning adults?

Fightlinker claims to think it’s a good idea as long as they do it in Japan with extended rounds. If the fight does happen, it had better not be in a place with an athletic commission, and any time you admit that you could only put on a fight in a place where there is no official oversight, aren’t you basically admitting that it’s a fight that is not athletically meaningful?

I don’t believe in telling fighters they should retire. Not really. When fans and writers insist that a legend of the sport should give it up it always seems so hollow. What do we know about what someone like that should do with their lives?

But even I have to admit that Kazushi Sakuraba’s beating at the hands of Melvin Manhoef in Dream.4 this weekend was difficult to watch. I’ve always had a soft spot for Sakuraba. He embodied so many of the best fighter attributes. He was tough and resilient, and at the same time he was also crafty and dangerous. He always seemed like he was having fun, even on his worst nights.

That’s why it’s so hard to see him continue past his prime. He’s obviously not having fun these days. His efforts are joyless and perfunctory, like a man waiting on his pension. And yet, for some reason, he can’t seem to walk away.

I used to wonder what it was that made pro athletes hold on too long. Almost everyone does it. The difference is that a baseball player who’s too old and too slow gets sent to the minors. A basketball player who can’t keep up gets cut.

But with fighters it’s a different story. They either step down significantly in competition, or they start taking some bad beatings. Sakuraba has done both. The former may harm his legacy somewhat, but it’s nothing compared to what the latter will do to you.

(The #1 image on GIS for “friday grind”…seriously.)

It’s the usual post-April Fool’s holiday blues wind-down. We’re all just biding our time until Happy Hour, so here are a few shorties to keep you busy until then.

— The UFC is now making more fights official for UFC 85. The show is to go down on June 7th in London. We already know Chuck Liddell will face Rashad Evans in the lame main event, and we’ve followed the other rumors, so let’s take a look at the UFC’s official card as it stands now:

– Chuck Liddell vs Rashad Evans
– Fabricio Werdum vs Brandon Vera
– Martin Kampmann vs Jorge Rivera
– Mike Swick vs Marcus Davis
– Nate Marquardt vs Thales Leites
– Jason Lambert vs Luis Cane
– Thiago Tavares vs Matt Wiman

Other rumored fights for the event that have not been stamped with the UFC official approval yet include: Jess Liaudin versus Paul Taylor, Antoni Hardonk versus Neil Wain, and Ryo Chonan versus Roan Carneiro. This comes via MMAWeekly, but we’ll keep our eyes on it for you.

— BloodyElbow is reporting that the UFC Fight Night 13‘s ratings were — in a word — shitty. The show did a 1.1 rating, which is terrible if you know anything about ratings. For such a stacked card, this really sucks for MMA on free TV. It goes to show you the unfortunate need for a Kimbo/Brock Lesnar/Chuck Liddell as a main eventer.

“TUF 7″ pulled a 1.3 immediately after the 3-hour event, so the previous joint retained its audience and gained some reality show hounds, too. For whatever it’s worth.

— And file this one with the Too Drunk to Care Bureau. Fightlinker dug up a crack-head’s video of Ken Shamrock apparently jonesin’ for meth. Check it out if you dare:

I’ll give them a tip o’ hat for editing, but first — a few quick words to the meth-head:

1) Work on your spelling and punctuation
2) Work on a Ken Shamrock ‘roids video
3) Meth…we’re assuming the Ken Shamrock pictorial is meant as sarcastic?
4) You gotta’ hook-up?

Have a bitchin’ weekend.

Sam Caplan: You made the accusation in an interview with MMAMadness.com that Ken Shamrock has been using steroids his whole life. MMAjunkie.com published a statement earlier this week in which Ken made a full denial of your claims. Do you stand by your statement?

Frank Shamrock: Oh yeah. Yeah. I apologize; I thought it was common knowledge. I don’t know why Ken would lie about it. I was the guy who picked him up after he had his bitch tits removed.

(Source: ProElite.com)

It’s a nice little Saturday and you find yourself wondering what Tito is doing at that exact moment. Probably watching himself on YouTube, would be my guess. ‘Jennito’ was out and about again and it’s yet another example of Jenna Jameson restraining herself from jabbing a chopstick through the Huntington Beach Bad Boy’s circus-sized melon. In the video – on the red carpet of the Never Back Down premiere – the HBBB also talks about his upcoming projects, including “Any Town Throwdown” with G4. The pilot started shooting this week – not sure if it is taking the place of “Settle Your Grudge” with some of the Gracie clan or not. Tito also made sure to plug his upcoming book, This Is Gonna’ Hurt, where he says we’ll get “the real Tito Ortiz”. Yeah, I’ll rush out to buy that one. He also recently signed with powerhouse agency William-Morris and they’re grooming him to be the next action star. Oh and Jenna has “a lot” of projects coming up, but doesn’t seem to recall any of them at the moment. Guess she’s too embarrassed to mention Zombie Strippers.

‘Jennito’ makes their appearance at the :45 second mark.

And after getting his ogre cranium fired from The Celebrity Apprentice Tito seems a little more focused on MMA again. The fighter also recently did an interview with JarryPark.com where he discussed his UFC status and left just a slight glimmer of hope that the May 24th Machida fight will not be his last for the UFC – even though he seems pretty adamant about it being the last fight every time he speaks about it…like every time he’s on camera. He chatted briefly about some of the organizations he might want to fight for – EliteXC and HDNet Fights included among the ones he respects – and whichever one it is he insists they have to put him front and center and utilize his mike skills. Tito, those aren’t skills. It’s you liking the sound of your voice.

Other topics covered: “The Third Most Dangerous Shamrock” and his sad, sad performance against Robert “Buzz” Berry this past weekend, and why Tito won’t wrestle full time. Check out the full interview here.

Man, what a fucking mess. If there was any debate as to whether Ken Shamrock should retire, his Cage Rage appearance last night settled it. Check out the 3:54 mark of the video, as Ken takes a glancing jab and a right hook to his glove, then flops over sideways, Bo Cantrell-style. At this point, it’s hard to imagine any professional heavyweight that Ken has the tools to beat. At the very least, he should have to change his nickname from “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” to “The Third Most Dangerous Shamrock” (after Frank and Frank’s wife).

Even if he’s given the medical clearance to fight next month it’s doubtful that EliteXC will still want to book Ken to get eaten up by Kimbo Slice on their CBS debut. Problem is, he was the most marketable option for Kimbo’s next opponent. Will Slice vs. Berry draw the amount of eyes that Shaw & Co. need for their first network television show? Maybe, maybe not. But any hope for a blockbuster “superfight” just buckled like Ken’s ever-wobbly legs.

(Ken Shamrock getting “inspected” before Cage Rage 25.)

Sherdog has thrown up some results from Cage Rage 25 which went down today in London. Ken Shamrock – who had lost four fights in a row before today – now boasts a five fight losing streak. His son, Ryan Shamrock, didn’t fare well either in only his second pro fight. The 135 pounder lost when the doctor stopped the fight after the first round due to Ryan’s broken hand. Ryan did last longer than his pops, though – Robert “Buzz” Berry knocked Ken out at the 3:26 mark of the first round. Will this finally put Ken Shamrock into permanent retirement or will he stick around long enough to fight his brother? We’ll wait and see, but more pressing, what does this do to all the talk of Ken Shamrock fighting Kimbo? Does anybody care anymore?

Other notable matches in the event: Tom “Kong” Watson’s win over Pierre Guillet on strikes, Neil Grove losing in a majority decision to Rob Broughton, and Masakazu Imanari heel hookin’ Jean Silva into a tapout. And sadly, our new girlfriend Aysen Berik lost by TKO in the first round to Aisling Daly.

Out of the eleven fights, only two went to decision and the other nine didn’t get into the second round. The event will air via tape-delay tonight at 10:30 p.m. on Showtime. The results:

– John Phillips over Jake Bostwick via TKO (Strikes) Round 1, 4:10
– John Hathaway over Marvin Arnold via TKO (Strikes) Round 1, 1:32
– Giorgio Andrews over Ryan Shamrock via TKO (Doctor Stoppage – Broken Hand) Round 1, 5:00
– Aisling Daly over Aysen Berik via TKO (Strikes) Round 1, 1:49
– Henrique Santana over Michael Johnson via Decision (Unanimous) Round 3, 5:00
– Ivan Serati over Roman Webber via TKO (Strikes) Round 1, 0:48
– Mustapha al Turk over Gary Turner via Submission (Strikes) Round 1, 3:19
– Tom Watson over Pierre Guillet via TKO (Strikes) Round 1, 2:05
– Rob Broughton over Neil Grove via Decision (Majority) Round 3, 5:00
– Masakazu Imanari over Jean Silva via Submission (Heel Hook) Round 1, 2:30
– Robert Berry over Ken Shamrock via KO (Punches) Round 1, 3:26

It was also announced yesterday that the next big Cage Rage show is scheduled for May 10th in Birmingham. Paul Cahoon will headline, putting his Cage Rage British Light Heavyweight belt on the line against Ian Freeman.

Headlined by a heavyweight match between Ken Shamrock and Robert “Buzz” Berry — which may very well decide who gets the next shot at Kimbo Slice — Cage Rage 25 goes down tomorrow night at London’s Wembley Arena. Showtime will run a tape-delayed broadcast of the four top-billed fights at 10:30 p.m. ET. Those other three main card fights are:

Jean Silva vs. Masakazu Imanari (for the Cage Rage Featherweight World Title)
Neil Grove vs. Rob Broughton (heavyweights)
Pierre Guillet vs. Tom “Kong” Watson (middleweights)

Other matches on the 11-fight card include Ken’s son Ryan facing off against Georgio Andrews in a bantamweight match, a heavyweight throwdown between Mustapha al Turk and Gary Turner, and Cage Rage’s first female fight between Aisling Daly and the rather-fetching Aysen Berik. Some other things to be aware of:

— If you clicked that last link, you’d know that Aysen Berik is the sister of Cage Rage vet Sami Berik, who, despite his terrible 12-24 record, knocked Mark Smith out in 9 seconds in a Cage Rage Contenders fight in February.

— Betting odds have Ken Shamrock as a -240 favorite (encouraging for someone who’s won only one fight since 2001). Grove and Broughton are dead even at -115.

— Robert Berry is the lightest he’s ever been for a fight, but will still be coming in 20 pounds heavier than Shamrock.

— Neil Grove and Rob Broughton both hold wins over Robert Berry. Illness forced Berry to throw in the towel after the first round of his fight with Grove in December. Berry’s September 2006 match against Broughton fight ended in a first-round KO.

— If you’re interested in hearing Ryan Shamrock talk, click away.

Not many people know how to brand their name like Frank Shamrock. Frank followed in his adoptive brother Ken’s MMA footsteps and built a legendary career for himself, winning titles in the UFC, Pancrase, WEC, and Strikeforce, and knocking off some of the greatest fighters of all-time along the way. After stepping away from the sport for a while earlier this decade, Frank has returned with impressive wins, and since 1997 has suffered only one loss by disqualification.

Shamrock’s next fight will be against Cung Le on March 29th where he will defend his Strikeforce middleweight title against the former kickboxing champion and fan favorite. And of course, his “Blood Brothers” fight with Ken is still on the horizon. CagePotato recently chatted with Frank about the bad blood between him and his brother, the UFC’s exploitative business tactics, exactly when he’ll retire, and what makes him so damn weird.

CagePotato: How long has the fight with Cung Le been in the works?
Frank Shamrock: We really got serious about it three or four months ago. But it’s kind of been on my horizon for a while now.

Le’s a fantastic striker. How do you feel you match-up with him?
I’m hoping to stand up with him. I think MMA striking is a little bit different than traditional striking. And I don’t think he’s ready for the type of strength I can put on him. He’s going to be a good test for me.

Dana White has been quoted as calling you “a weird guy,” and you’ve had more than one public feud. Are you weird or just misunderstood at times?
I’m sure I’m weird in his book because I’m a damn good fighter who believes in my brand and won’t sell my brand to [the UFC]. To him, that’s weird.

The UFC has been losing big-name fighters lately for one reason or another. Where do you see the sport going as far as organizations, marketing, and free agents in the near future?
The truth is just catching up to the UFC. They’ve been the big business that’s been taking advantage of the fighters for a long time. Now everyone’s sort of figuring it out. Unfortunately, they have a big monopoly on the industry at this point, so it’s going to be difficult for other fighters to make it and get recognition elsewhere.

Ryan Shamrock’s opponent for his second professional MMA fight has been announced; the emaciated 19-year-old progeny of the “World’s Most Dangerous Man” will face Giorgio Andrews on the undercard of Cage Rage 25, which is headlined by a match between his father Ken and Robert Berry. Andrews is 2-0 professionally, with both of his wins coming via first-round stoppage.

Here’s the video of Ryan Shamrock’s pro debut, a bantamweight match against Josh Besneatte last August which resulted in a first-round submission win. Shamrock starts things off with an unexpected body slam, and shows impressive movement on the ground before ending Besneatte’s night with a Swickitine (the action starts at the 2:15 mark):

MMA Madness has a great interview with Ken Shamrock, where the UFC Hall-of-Famer discusses the IFL, Tito Ortiz, and his upcoming fight at Cage Rage. And just like every other time Ken is given a public forum, he used part of the interview to lash out at Dana White:

Everyone understands that he wants to be the show and if anyone threatens his popularity or strength, whether he’s right or wrong, Dana will go after them. He always says, verbatim, “I’m gonna bury him.” It’s this power thing for him and it’s gonna work for a while because myself, Chuck [Liddell], Tito [Ortiz], Randy [Couture] built this thing up. We gave Dana White the strength to do what he’s doing now but he’s hurting everything that we built. He can’t stop and just admit that this isn’t about him. It’s about the guys who went the distance with the UFC and kept them strong. Dana handles the UFC hall of fame and he inducted me. Even then, he had to be the center of attention. He needs to learn that it’s not about him. He calls fighters out. He calls managers out. Is Dana White a promoter or a fighter? … If you don’t follow Dana’s rules, he’ll pack up his toys and go home and he won’t let you play with his toys anymore. Somewhere along the line, as time goes on, the guys who built this will make him answer to his actions.

We’re also quite fond of this exchange:

MMA Madness: Your son, who is 1-0 in MMA competition, is also fighting at the event. What is more exciting, your comeback or your son’s first mainstream fight?

Ken Shamrock: Definitely my comeback.

Jesus. Can you imagine if Ken Shamrock was your father?

Ken: Let’s get one thing straight, Buster Brown. I’m the World’s Most Dangerous Man. Not you. You’re just the son of the World’s Most Dangerous Man. Is that clear?
Ryan: …
Ken: I built you into what you are today! Without my sperm, and the egg of some lady, you would be nothing.
Ryan: But dad, all I wanted to do was…
Ken: No you may not borrow my body-grease! That’s Ken Shamrock’s body grease! KEN SHAMROCK’S, BODY GREASE! BLAAAAAAUUUUGH!!!!

Total nightmare.

Discussing Ken Shamrock’s recent loss history inspired us to dig up the video of his first-round loss to Kazushi Sakuraba, which went down at PRIDE 30 in October 2005. And watching the video reminded us of something we love/hate about Ken — his constant protest of early stoppages. Dude, maybe the refs wouldn’t step in so often if you could get hit without looking like you’ve lost consciousness. It’s a tough skill to learn, but an important one nonetheless.

(Yeah, but what happens when Cage Rage dumps your ass?)

According to The Fight Network, Ken Shamrock’s manager has confirmed that “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” will face Robert “Buzz” Berry during his Cage Rage debut at London’s Wembley Arena on March 8th. Berry fights as a heavyweight, and we’re guessing the match will be fought within that division. Here’s the rest of what we know about Berry:

— His record is 11-7. He hasn’t beaten anybody we’ve heard of, but he’s lost to Tengiz Tedoradze (twice), Dan Severn (last year), and his last two matches resulted in TKO losses against Colin Robinson (who will face Antoni Hardonk in the undercard of UFC 80) and Neil Grove (who is also on the Cage Rage 3/8 card), a loss which he later blamed on fatigue due to a severe chest infection.

According to this official-looking website, a date has been set for the fight between adoptive brothers Ken Shamrock and Frank Shamrock that was first announced at HDNet Fights: Reckless Abandon. Though MMA Fightline claims that “Blood Brothers” will go down Thursday (?), April 10, the countdown on BloodBrothersPPV says the match will go down in 83 days, 8 hours and 10 minutes, putting it at an even odder Monday, March 31st (promptly at 11 p.m. ET!). The event is being presented by Mixed Martial Arts Entertainment (MMAE), whose President and CEO happens to be Frank Shamrock. No word yet on a location or an undercard, but the match does have a MySpace Page, which plugs it as “a fight of Biblical proportions,” and refers to “Frank Shamrock VS Ken Shamrock” as a 51-year-old male from San Jose. A countdown bar on the page says there’s actually one year, two months, and 24 days until the fight, which by my calculations is a Tuesday. Listen guys, all those dates sound awesome, but trust me, you’re gonna wanna hold the fight on a weekend. It’s just good business!

First, the boring stuff — Jason Miller defeated Tim Kennedy in a unanimous decision and Frank Trigg submitted Edwin Dewees via kimura in the first round at Saturday’s HDNet Fights: Reckless Abandon show. Check back later for videos of both matches…

The real action came from a series of statements made through the course of the night. In order of importance:

1) Randy Couture hopes to fight Fedor Emelianenko as early as October 2008. In an interview during “Reckless Abandon,” Couture said the following: “Unless the UFC wants to do a co-promotion with M-1 and make the Fedor fight happen, I’m going to have to wait ’til my contract expires. I have no intention of breaching that contract — that expires in July, my employment contract expires with them in October, so I would assume that the soonest you’d see me fight Emelianenko would be in October.” At a post-event press conference, he said “I have a contract with the UFC that I have to honor. I can’t breach that or I’ll end up in litigation, so I don’t intend to do that.” Asked for his take on the upcoming Emelianenko/Hong Man Choi fight at Yarennoka!, Couture said, “I hope it goes successfully for him because I want to be the first one to beat him.”

2) A fight between Ken Shamrock and Frank Shamrock is on the horizon. In a separate interview with Ken Shamrock during the HDNet Fights broadcast, Ken addressed the rumors of a match between him and his semi-estranged adoptive brother: “We’re gonna make that happen. It’s not a dirty thing, we don’t hate each other. Fact is, I respect what he’s done with himself, so I’m looking forward to getting in there, and me and the brother doing a little sibling rivalry in the ring…I don’t know where we’re gonna do it yet…but it’s gonna happen.”

I just felt like posting a video of Rich Franklin actually winning a fight, so here y’go. Let’s not take anything away from the moment by pointing out that Ken was about eight years past his prime at this point, and couldn’t stay on his feet to save his life. That part at the 4:06 mark where he basically falls into Franklin’s fist? Genius.

(Rich Franklin vs. Ken Shamrock, TUF1 finale, 4/9/05)

The UFC Hall-of-Famers whose blood and sweat carried the organization in its early days will act as coaches for a series of team MMA events to be held in Asia. According to MMA Weekly, Las Vegas-based Platinum Fighting Productions is organizing a tournament named “Ring of Fire,” which pits teams of five fighters (including one woman) against each other, with four preliminary events leading up to a final matchup between the two best teams. Along with Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock, the other coaches will be UFC/PRIDE veteran Josh Barnett and Armenian-American submission grappling guru Gokor Chivichyan. The lineups will be:

Team Gracie: Cleber Luciano, Jorge Patino, Daniel Serafian, John Marsh, Katrine Alendal
Team Lion’s Den (Shamrock): Evan Dunham, Kyacey Uscola, Mike Whitehead, Ricco Rodriguez, Tonya Evinger
Team Barnett: Koji Oishi, Yuki Kondo, Renato “Babalu” Sobral, Jeff Monson, Ginele Marquez
Team Gokar: Karen Darabedyan, August Wallen, Rodney Faverus, Hakim Gouram, Amanda Buckner

The first event will take place on December 9th at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines, and will feature Barnett’s team taking on Chivichyan’s. Future events will take place in Macau, Japan, and China; the final is slated for December 2008. Why this is being held on the other side of the world is anybody’s guess — it doesn’t seem to be the best move for a fledgling organization, marketing-wise, if a television broadcast is out of the question. Stay tuned for more details on this compelling, possibly bullshit event.