***spoilers*** UFC News and Discussion Thread

[Enter Blue Guy]

Report: Shamrock to Retire After October Fight

Ken Shamrock, who amassed a 26-11-2 record during a fighting career that started before the first Ultimate Fighting Championship event in 1993, will retire after stepping into the cage for a third time against Tito Ortiz on October 10, the Lassen County News reported Tuesday.

Shamrock joined Royce Gracie as the UFC's first icons. He battled the Brazilian legend twice, losing by choke at UFC I and earning a draw after 36 minutes at UFC V.

Early in his career, Shamrock, later dubbed "The World's Most Dangerous Man" during a stint working for Vince McMahon, split time between the UFC and Pancrase, where he defeated fighters like Masakatsu Funaki, Bas Rutten and Maurice Smith.

Shamrock would become synonymous with UFC-promoted cards, and was regarded as a figurehead for the sport in America before leaving for professional wrestling from 1996-2000.

Following his four-year fighting absence, Shamrock returned in Japan's PRIDE organization, where he fought to a 1-3 record, including a classic bout against rival Don Frye.

It was after the Frye fight that Shamrock returned to the UFC and his first bout was likely his biggest. In November 2002 Shamrock stepped into the cage against then UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz. He'd take a pounding at UFC 40 and the fight was called after 15 minutes.

A win over Kimo Leoplodo (Shamrock's only victory since taking out an overmatched Sam Adkins in August 2001) is the veteran's last triumph in the cage, and he has since lost three fights in a row.

His most recent bout, an early first round stoppage against Ortiz, had Shamrock pining for another opportunity at his longtime nemesis. He has been granted a third fight and it appears regardless of the result on Oct. 10, Shamrock has decided it's time to hang up his gloves.

The 42-year-old Susanville, Calif. resident told the Lassen County News that upon retirement he intends to promote MMA events, continue training fighters out of his famous Lion's Den academy, get in some golf and spend time with his family.

Edited August 10, 2006 by Enter Blue Guy

[Guest Takayamanofear]

I am glad to see Shamrock go I have never been a fan of him. I feel that he is the most overrated fighter in UFC/PRIDE/MMA history. Pancrase excluded depending on what you believe.

[Enter Blue Guy]

Former World Wrestling Entertainment Champion Brock Lesnar Announces Entry Into The MMA Ring In K-1’s HERO’s Series

LAS VEGAS – Former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) World Champion Brock Lesnar announced his entrance into the MMA ring Saturday night at a press conference at Bellagio following the K-1 “Battle at Bellagio” event. Lesnar confirmed that he had signed a contract to fight for HERO’s, K-1’s new Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) series of events which includes headliners Genki Sudo, Bob Sapp, Kazushi Sakuraba and Don Frye. Lesnar also announced that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu innovator and the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) first-ever champion, Royce Gracie, will be his trainer.

“You are a great champion wrestler and I am a great Jiu Jitsu fighter; we are going to be good together,” said Gracie as he eagerly shook Lensar’s hand in the K-1 ring at the sold out “Battle at Bellagio” event on Saturday.

credit: MMANews.com

Edited August 16, 2006 by Enter Blue Guy

[ACCBiggz]

I'm confident Pride/UFC will happen in October, maybe just that once. The news about Lesnar is amazing. MFS + Royce is just ridiculous. These K-1 bouts will be good for Brock, especially if he loses, this will let Royce and Pat know where his weaknesses really lay and help them in training him more.

[JoeMimic]

Brock could be very very very good; theres few people who will be able to out wrestle him and few people who will be able to overpower him. Depending on who they put him in there with he could win his first match on that alone. Once you start working with him on jiu jitsu and submissions and his striking? Yikes he's going to be a BEAST.

UFN is approaching a couple of my local fighters are fighting. Of course Chris Leben looking to avenge his first ever knockout loss, and Pat Healy my buddy from high school gets to show his stuff against Season 3's Anthony Torres. I haven't seen much of Torres but I know Pat likes to strike but he's much better on the ground IMO.

[ACCBiggz]

Serra and White were on Cold Pizza this morning talking about TUF4, and Shaq taking Jiu-Jitsu.

[LUKIE]

I am glad to see Shamrock go I have never been a fan of him. I feel that he is the most overrated fighter in UFC/PRIDE/MMA history. Pancrase excluded depending on what you believe.

Depends on whether or not you believe that Pancrase was worked or not, back then

He also worked the second incarnation of the UWF, and also Fujiwara-gumi for a brief time.

But again, that was all worked.

[ACCBiggz]

Predictions for tonight:

Diego Sanchez vs. Karo Parisyan

Dean Lister vs. Yuki Sasaki

Josh Koscheck vs. Jonathan Goulet - Merely because I refuse to pick Koshceck

Chris Leben vs. Jorge Santiago

Joe Riggs vs. Jason Von Flue

Sam Morgan vs. Forrest Petz

Anthony Torres vs. Pat Healy

Jake O'Brien vs. Kristof Midoux

Crafton Wallace vs. Martin Kampmann

Winners:

Anthony Torres by RNC in the 1st.

Forest Petz by Unanimous Decision.

Jake O'Brien by Ref Stoppage in the 2nd.

Joe Riggs by Triangle Choke in 1st.

Martin Kampmann by RNC in the 1st.

Josh Koscheck by Ref Stoppage in the 1st.

Dean Lister by Unanimous Decision.

Chris Leben by KO in the 2nd.

Diego Sanchez by Unanimous Decision.

Yuki Sasaki impressed me a lot with his defense.

I thought Santiago won the first round, but Leben landed a perfect punch for the KO.

What a fight between Karo and Diego. First round I couldn't give it to anyone 10-10. Again another tight round, I may give it to Diego, but I'll say 10-10... I'm too in decisive this time. Third was clearly Diego, he'll win based on my card, and the judges. I'm going to have a conspiracy theory by saying even if it were a tie or closer, Diego would win.... they have fishy decisions when it comes to likeable fighters, like Bonnars over Jardine and such.

I never realised Karo was actually younger because he's been around the block.

Edited August 18, 2006 by ACCBiggz

[Javs]

Holy shit, what a fucking fight. Fight of the year so far IMO. I had 10-9(maybe 10), 9-10, 10-8 Diego. The 30-26 score was fucking ridiculous though. Still, hats off to both.

And damn, Diego made Karo's tooth fly.

Edited August 18, 2006 by Javs

[Guest Takayamanofear]

Yay Shonie is not gone, Also he is there till the Semis which just adds to the value.

[Fitzy]

Best UFC Fight Night. Usually these are terrible and boring, but I liked it throughout.

Koscheck improved a lot. I actually started to like him. He wasn't all lay and pray and learned how to strike. He might be someone to look out for now instead of just someone who will dry hump you to death.

Dean Lister needs to learn from Tito Ortiz on how to not get blown up after one round. Hopefully Ortiz will help him out there since Lister helps Ortiz in the submission part. He has that down well, but the blown up part nearly hurt his chances of winning.

Chris Leben had an excellent knockout.

I like Jason Von Flue and I was kind of hoping he'd pull out the win against Joe Riggs, but I know it wouldn't happen. Riggs is just better. But Von Flue giving him ref the finger and then tapping out was great.

And of course the main event. I thought a fourth round was needed in Diego vs. Karo. The first round seemed to be tied with Diego starting off strong but Karo taking over at the end. Second round was all Karo. Third round was Diego. I would have loved a fourth round there. But that judge needs to be shot for a 30-26 score for Diego. Where the hell did he get that score from? Best fight of 2006 so far. Best fight Diego's been in (as much as I liked Diego-Diaz, this was even better). The only fight I've seen from Karo and I want more. He's great. Those takedowns were awesome. You could see this huge bruise on Diego's forehead from those multiple takedowns on the head. But that knee from Diego to the mouth of Karo was great.

[ACCBiggz]

I have wondered how the fight would have went without Karo being poked/bleeding from the eye right from the beginning. You saw him kind of look toward the referee as soon as he was thrown almost, in my opinion, wanting a break to make sure he could properly see. Was a good fight overall, I'd love to see a re-match after Diego gets owned by GSP in their title fight....

Yes, I said it... GSP is winning the title and then owning Sanchez

This allows the Hughes/Karo fight we never saw and after Hughes wins, we get the two rematches on the same card. Would be great in my opinion. Of course we have to deal with the title fight from TUF4 as well.

With Serra appearing on Cold Pizza this leads me to believe he is either in the finals or he does something very significant, rather it be really shining or something, to warrant him being brought along. I'd say he is in the finals, as he was one of the picks early on to go that far, and Dana bringing him along to kind of get his name out there already.

[JoeMimic]

I was very impressed with Kos; I still don't like the dude though. Doesn't mean I can't respect him.

Lister/Yuki was a fun little fight. Lister gassing was a suprise but when you think about him cutting all that weight it really isn't. I think we'll see Sasaki again. He had excellent submission defense and if he hadn't of gassed he might have came away with that fight.

Leben/Santiago - What can I say? I'm a huge Leben fan. He got destroyed by Silva but everyone gets beat in this sport. Everyone thats not named Fedor. I thought Leben came out okay; he didn't look great in the first round but he didn't look terrible. Santiago looked good I would expect to see him again but he made a mistake and all it took was one punch and he was out.

Von Flue/Riggs- Damn is all I can say. I like Von Flue but he hasn't really done much to stay in the UFC I think he needed a win there to keep himself in it and he just didn't get it. Riggs trains with the MFS team and its beginning to show.

Parysian/Sanchez - Again. I don't like Diego and I think he's in for a rude wakeup whenever he gets his shot whether it be GSP or Matt Hughes but he won the fight. To me on any big fight theres almost ALWAYS one judge who scores it totally wrong. If I remember correctly there was a judge scoring the Ortiz/Griffin fight who had Ortiz winning all 3 rounds.

As for why Matt Serra was on cold pizza. I think its totally possible he is one of the winners because he's very talented but I also just think he's one of the more outgoing and media ready fighters especially compared to everyone else on the show. I was glad Shonie won; I think he could very dangerous if the guys get him into any kind of shape. Shonie is very entertaining at least to me.

Edited August 18, 2006 by JoeMimic

[ACCBiggz]

The Finales are Live, so I wouldn't say Serra is a winner yet

My only reason for saying that he may be in the finals is because he was on there. If he were beat in the early stages why would Dana bring him? So he would have had to at least been in the semi's by this point.

[JoeMimic]

You know what I meant dangit! Serra could very well be a finalist who gets to fight for a title shot. I don't know if I could honestly see any of these guys beating Rich Frankiln or Matt Hughes.

[Fitzy]

Von Flue/Riggs- Damn is all I can say. I like Von Flue but he hasn't really done much to stay in the UFC I think he needed a win there to keep himself in it and he just didn't get it. Riggs trains with the MFS team and its beginning to show.

Edited August 18, 2006 by Fitzy

[JoeMimic]

I agree with that up to a certain point. UFC does keep guys around but eventually you do have to win. Nick Diaz has a bigger name then Jason Von Flue and he's not in the UFC anymore. Whether it be contract dispute or what have you; the bottom line was he had lost 3 unanimous decisions in a row all to some tough fighters (Sherk/Riggs/Sanchez) The only guy Von Flue has beaten in the UFC is Alex Karalexis and he's hardly the next coming to Matt Hughes.

Von Flue has lost consecutively to Joe Riggs and to Luke Cummo unanimously. I like Von Flue like I stated before but I don't know if he'll get another shot. There's plenty of UFN who haven't been seen since. Bobby Southworth lost to Sam Hoger and has only fought once in any MMA fight since. Josh Rafferty lost once and was gone. The 2nd season has had a lot more staying power though definitely between Luke Cummo Rashad Evans Stevenson and Sammy Morgan fought and lost last night. Don't forget Dan Christison's lost to Frank Mir at the last PPV.

[Javs]

And in more Brock news. He came on a K1 show last night and announced he was going to fight at the LV Hero's event. And to add on to that, Royce Gracie came out and said he was going to train him. It's a one fight deal I'm pretty sure.

So basically, Brock is training with one of the best camps in MMA, acclaimed Boxers and Kickboxers, and now with one of the best BJJ specialists. He's really not pulling any stops with this one. All of that training + a NCAA Div 1 Championship background + a physical specimen like Brock Lesner is just scary. If he has a good chin, I fully expect him to live up to the hype.

Edited August 19, 2006 by Javs

[Guest Takayamanofear]

And in more Brock news. He came on a K1 show last night and announced he was going to fight at the LV Hero's event. And to add on to that, Royce Gracie came out and said he was going to train him. It's a one fight deal I'm pretty sure.

So basically, Brock is training with one of the best camps in MMA, acclaimed Boxers and Kickboxers, and now with one of the best BJJ specialists. He's really not pulling any stops with this one. All of that training + a NCAA Div 1 Championship background + a physical specimen like Brock Lesner is just scary. If he has a good chin, I fully expect him to live up to the hype.

[Enter Blue Guy]

Poor Karo, he's always dead going into the third round. Against GSP, Diaz, and now against Diego. It was toss up going into the third, with the slight edge going to Karo, IMO. I didn't know if he'd be able to catch Diego with any of those Judo throws, but man, he did and it was a thing of beauty. He looked amazing in the second round, but he was beat in the last round. Diego's cardio is amazing, Karo just couldn't keep up the pace Sanchez was going at for 15 minutes, taking punishment along the way.

Props to Diego, though. He's had some subpar outings, but like I've said before, it all depends how his opponents performs. If his opponent comes out and just gives it, Diego will be right there givin' to. But his opponent is passive and not going at 100%, Diego seems to slow down himself and not look totally there. Good fight for Diego this time, really. He showed a lot of heart, the end of the first round and the second weren't so kind to him, but he came back like a beast. I'm still on the fence whether or not he's ready for a title shot and in the post fight interview Diego himself seemed himself like he wasn't exactly itching for a shot yet either. Whatever, I know if Diego gets that shot, he'll be ready for it the best he can and if he doesn't win, he'll certainly give the champ a hell of a fight.

I still think Karo proved a lot and I can't wait until he gets some more fights under his belt, as this was only his second fight after being on the shelf. He'll come back and he'll improve, greatly. Remember, Karo is only 23 years old, he's already extremely talented, he trains with elite coaches, and he hasn't hit his prime yet. Give him a year or two and I think Karo will be getting the same kind of attention that GSP is getting right now. But he needs to work on his cardio if he wants to hang with Hughes and GSP, because those two can go whole fights at a high pace and still look dominant in the last round, which at this time Karo can't. With guidance from Randy Couture, THE cardio machine, he can improve it.

Oh and I really liked the first episode of TUF 4, though it felt a little flat. But it's always like that with TUF, because they only introduce a handful of fighters first, then introduce the rest week by week when it's their turn to fight. So it makes you feel like "ok, so there's Matt Serra and Shonie Carter... but what about the rest of these guys in the background?" Whatever. It's going to be a good season for fights, that's for sure. Matt Serra is stealing the show, for sure. Almost every scene in the episode you could hear Serra's voice somewhere. I hope he wins too, he's one of the most underrated fighters in the States.