152 Facts About Ken Shamrock

Kenneth Wayne Shamrock is an American semi-retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist.

Ken Shamrock is best known for his time in Ultimate Fighting Championship and other combat sports.

Ken Shamrock has headlined over 15 main events and co-main events in the UFC and Pride FC and set numerous MMA pay-per-view records.

Ken Shamrock became known early on in the UFC for his rivalry with Royce Gracie.

Ken Shamrock was the first foreign MMA champion in Japan, winning the title of King of Pancrase Openweight title.

Ken Shamrock is the founder of the Lion's Den mixed martial arts training camp, and is the older brother of fellow fighter Frank Shamrock.

Ken Shamrock headlined multiple pay-per-view events in both promotions, including 1997's D-Generation X: In Your House, where he challenged for the WWF Championship.

Additionally, Ken Shamrock was one of the first wrestlers to use the shoot style of wrestling in America, being credited by WWE with popularizing the legitimate ankle lock submission hold.

Ken Shamrock's father Richard Kilpatrick was a United States Air Force enlistee, and his mother Diane Kilpatrick was a waitress and dancer who had her first son when she was 15.

Ken Shamrock had three brothers and grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia.

Ken Shamrock was often left to fend for himself, and, without his parents' supervision or guidance, got into many fights.

Ken Shamrock's father abandoned his family when Shamrock was five.

Ken Shamrock's mother married an Army aviator named Bob Nance, and the newly formed family moved to Napa, California, Nance's hometown.

Ken Shamrock became involved in and excelled at sports at a young age, playing in Little League baseball and Pop Warner football.

Ken Shamrock was not as involved with drugs as his brothers, such as his brother Richie, who enjoyed smoking marijuana and eventually using heroin intravenously, but who played football.

At age 10, Ken Shamrock ran away from home for the first time, and was stabbed by another child on the run, ending up in the hospital.

Ken Shamrock lived in cars before being placed in a foster home.

Ken Shamrock went through seven group homes and served time in a juvenile hall.

Ken Shamrock moved between several more group homes before being placed in Bob Shamrock's Boys' Home at age 14 in Susanville, California, where he turned his life around.

At Lassen High School, Shamrock excelled in football and wrestling.

Ken Shamrock received no scholarship offers from any big colleges, and doctors told him his sports career was likely over.

In 1988, Ken Shamrock trained as a professional wrestler under Buzz Sawyer, Nelson Royal, and Gene Anderson.

Ken Shamrock debuted in 1989 in Royal's North Carolina-based Atlantic Coast Wrestling promotion under the ring name Wayne Shamrock.

In June 1990, after being inspired by Dean Malenko, Ken Shamrock applied for the American tryouts of Japanese Universal Wrestling Federation in Florida.

Ken Shamrock became instantly popular and was put on a match against Masakatsu Funaki next.

UWF folded shortly after, and Ken Shamrock followed Funaki and other wrestlers to its successor promotion, Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi, led by Yoshiaki Fujiwara.

Ken Shamrock had his first high level bout with Duane Koslowski, Dennis Koslowski's twin brother and a 1988 Summer Olympics Greco-Roman wrestler, whom Shamrock submitted twice before working their actual match.

Ken Shamrock himself praised Takahashi as a wrestler, comparing him to himself.

Ken Shamrock made his WWF debut as a face on the February 24,1997, episode of Monday Night Raw, the same episode of Raw where ECW promoted their first pay-per-view Barely Legal 1997.

Ken Shamrock returned to the ring following WrestleMania, squashing Vernon White in his debut WWF match.

Ken Shamrock went on to feud with Vader, Bret Hart, and The Hart Foundation throughout 1997.

The match ended in a TKO win for Vader as Ken Shamrock was suffering from internal bleeding from a lung infection and a rib injury.

Ken Shamrock then disposed of the brass knuckles inside his trunks behind the referee's back.

Ken Shamrock was originally set to win the match and defeat The Rock.

Ken Shamrock objected to using the brass knuckles to Chioda before Chioda reversed the decision and took the Intercontinental Championship belt from Ken Shamrock and gave it back to The Rock, making The Rock the winner via disqualification.

In June 1998, Ken Shamrock competed in the 1998 King of the Ring tournament, eliminating Nation members Mark Henry, Kama and The Rock, as well as Jeff Jarrett, to win the tournament.

Ken Shamrock next feuded with Owen Hart: Hart defeated Shamrock in a "Hart Family Dungeon match" at Fully Loaded, and Shamrock defeated Hart in a "Lion's Den match" at SummerSlam.

Ken Shamrock turned heel in October 1998 and won the vacant Intercontinental Championship on October 12, defeating X-Pac in the finals of an eight-man tournament.

In January 1999, Ken Shamrock began feuding with Billy Gunn, Goldust and Val Venis, all of whom had made overtures to his kayfabe sister, Ryan.

Ken Shamrock took part in a four way bout for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania XV.

In early mid-1999, the Corporation began feuding with The Undertaker and his Ministry of Darkness, with The Undertaker's minions repeatedly ambushing Ken Shamrock and kidnapping Ryan, sacrificing her on the Undertaker's symbol.

The feud ended at SummerSlam, where Ken Shamrock defeated Blackman in a "Lion's Den weapons match".

Ken Shamrock went on to feud with the newly debuted Chris Jericho until departing the WWF in late 1999 in order to resume his mixed martial arts career.

Ken Shamrock's departure was attributed on screen to an injury inflicted by Jericho's bodyguard, Mr Hughes.

Ken Shamrock returned to professional wrestling in March 2002, refereeing a Ring of Honor match between Bryan Danielson and Low Ki.

Ken Shamrock made an appearance in the independent Wrestling company Juggalo Championship Wrestling during their flagship annual event, Bloodymania III, defeating Jimmy Jacobs with Dan Severn as the special guest referee.

In May 2002, Ken Shamrock signed a one-year deal with the newly formed Total Nonstop Action Wrestling promotion.

Ken Shamrock made two appearances for New Japan Pro-Wrestling between 2003 and 2004.

Ken Shamrock defeated Takashi Iizuka at NJPW Ultimate Crush II in May 2003.

Ken Shamrock then lost to Josh Barnett by disqualification at NJPW Nexess.

Ken Shamrock made a special return to NJPW on October 27,2022, at Rumble on 44th Street, escorting Clark Connors to the ring for his match against Minoru Suzuki, in which Suzuki was victorious.

Ken Shamrock then departed TNA again shortly after the latter match.

Ken Shamrock returned to professional wrestling on November 30,2018, for Battle Championship Wrestling in Melbourne, Australia.

Ken Shamrock defeated BCW Tag Team Champion Gabriel Wolfe in a singles match before teaming with Carlo Cannon in an impromptu BCW Tag Team Championship match against Wolfe and Big Cuz, in which Shamrock and Cannon were successful in capturing the BCW tag team titles.

Ken Shamrock faced Moose at the 2019 Bound for Glory event in a losing effort.

Ken Shamrock took off the mask and it was revealed to be Sami Callihan.

The feud would culminate at Rebellion 2020 Night 1 in an Unsanctioned match, where Ken Shamrock submitted Callihan to an ankle lock.

Ken Shamrock turned heel when he aligned himself with Sami Callihan and attacked Eddie Edwards.

Ken Shamrock considered this a big victory, as it had been the first time he beat Funaki in all his time as Funaki's apprentice, and the show attracted a sell-out audience of 7,000.

Ken Shamrock followed up with victories over Yoshiki Takahashi, Takaku Fuke and Andre Van Den Oetelaar, and was slated to fight co-founder Minoru Suzuki on January 19,1994.

However, during the match Suzuki refused to release a kneebar after Ken Shamrock had grabbed the ropes to escape, which injured the American's leg and forced him to forfeit the fight.

The bout was finished by Ken Shamrock performing a professional wrestling northern lights suplex floated over into a Kimura lock and was widely considered to be a worked shoot.

When Ken Shamrock was asked about the matter in 1998, he revealed that Hume and him had agreed to work the match in an exhibition format.

Ken Shamrock defeated world kickboxing champion Maurice Smith and Alex Cook in the opening round of the 16-man King of Pancrase Tournament and Masakatsu Funaki and Manabu Yamada in the Second round to become the first King of Pancrase in December 1994.

Ken Shamrock then defended his King of Pancrase title against Bas Rutten in 1995, submitting him with a kneebar.

Ken Shamrock lost the title in his next fight against Pancrase co-creator, Minoru Suzuki.

Ken Shamrock broke Lobman's nose with a right cross early in the bout but was ultimately defeated by TKO due to leg kicks.

Ken Shamrock eventually had a falling out with Pancrase management in early 1996 and left the company to compete in the UFC full-time.

The event, UFC 1, was held under a one-night tournament format, but Ken Shamrock only realized it would be real fighting after watching Gerard Gordeau knock out Teila Tuli in the first bout.

Ken Shamrock sprawled a takedown and manoeuvred on top of Gracie, but the latter escaped from under his mount attempt and returned to his feet.

Ken Shamrock paused for a few seconds but declined, admitting to the ref that he tapped out and that it would not be fair for him to continue fighting.

Ken Shamrock was scheduled to compete at UFC 2 but broke his hand after blocking a high kick while sparring with a teammate.

Ken Shamrock still wanted to compete, but when doctors told him that he might never fight again if he injured his hand any further, he reluctantly withdrew.

Ken Shamrock's first fight, now wearing better shoes, was against top ranked judo practitioner Christophe Leininger.

Ken Shamrock's next fight was in the semifinals against kickboxer Felix Mitchell.

However, Ken Shamrock refused to compete in the finals after he learned Gracie had dropped out of the tournament after his win over Kimo Leopoldo, combined with a knee injury he suffered during his match with Leininger.

Gracie came into the octagon at 190 pounds, while Ken Shamrock cut his weight down to 205 pounds for the bout.

Ken Shamrock expressed desire to fight Gracie again for a third time in 1996, saying that if it went to a draw again, he would have Gracie declared the winner and Ken Shamrock would forfeit his UFC Superfight Championship belt to Gracie.

Ken Shamrock was then matched up with UFC 5 tournament champion Dan Severn at UFC 6 on July 14,1995, to determine the reigning champion of the UFC.

Ken Shamrock became even more furious when he found a newsletter back at the hotel that explained to readers how Severn was going to destroy Ken Shamrock.

On September 8,1995, at UFC 7, Ken Shamrock successfully defended the UFC Superfight Championship against UFC 6 Tournament Champion "The Russian Bear" Oleg Taktarov.

Ken Shamrock stated in his autobiography that he was uncomfortable fighting Taktarov, as Oleg trained with the Lion's Den and he did not wish to injure his friend and teammate.

Ken Shamrock then defended his belt against Kimo Leopoldo at UFC 8 in February 1996 in Puerto Rico.

Ken Shamrock was then scheduled to face number one contender and rival Dan Severn at UFC 9 in a rematch of their fight at UFC 6, which Ken Shamrock won by guillotine choke in 2:14.

When Ken Shamrock learned of the sudden rule change, he made up his mind that he was not going to fight.

Ken Shamrock's injuries, combined with the rule change, meant he did not think he could win the fight because all of his weapons were taken away from him.

Severn later said that his strategy was purposely not to engage with Ken Shamrock and wait for the fans to boo, hoping that the booing would affect Ken Shamrock psychologically and force him to make a mistake that Severn could capitalize on.

Finally, after over 15 minutes of stalling, Severn shot for a takedown, but was unsuccessful and following a brief scramble, Ken Shamrock put Severn on his back in full mount.

Ken Shamrock held the mount for close to five minutes, throwing open fist palm strikes to Severn's head and an occasional closed fist punch to the body.

Ken Shamrock felt as though he would have damaged Severn badly and perhaps finished him from this position of full mount had he been allowed to punch Severn in the face with a closed fist.

Severn eventually gave his back in an attempt to get out and the risk paid off as Ken Shamrock slid off Severn's back and onto his back in full guard.

Ken Shamrock eventually got back to his feet and after six more minutes stalling, the fight went to a judges' decision.

Ken Shamrock later stated that going through with this fight was the biggest regret of his fighting career.

Ken Shamrock appeared as a guest on the mainstream American television program Late Night with Conan O'Brien to promote the event.

Frank Shamrock served as Ken's head cornerman for the event.

Ken Shamrock eventually tapped Johnston out with a forearm choke and advanced to the semifinals of the tournament.

Ken Shamrock broke the same hand during this fight that kept him out of UFC 2 and had to withdraw from the tournament.

On January 30,2000, at the Pride Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round, Guy Mezger, one of Ken Shamrock's fighters, fought Kazushi Sakuraba, who at the time was considered to be one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world.

In early 2000, Ken Shamrock made a comeback to the mixed martial arts scene following his 4-year hiatus in the WWF.

Ken Shamrock was supposed to face Josh Barnett at SuperBrawl 16 February 8,2000, but withdrew due to pay issues, Shamrock was the favorite to win the bout and was replaced by former fellow UFC Superfight Champion Dan Severn, He signed with Pride Fighting Championships and defeated Alexander Otsuka by KO due to punches at the Pride Grand Prix 2000 Finals in the superfight, his first fight back from the WWF.

Ken Shamrock came into the fight with Fujita noticeably smaller than his previous fight with Otsuka, dropping roughly 15 pounds of weight.

Ken Shamrock was evaluated after the fight and it was determined that he was suffering from heart palpitations.

In March 2001, Ken Shamrock was scheduled to fight Igor Vovchanchyn at Pride 13 - Collision Course, but re-injured his neck during training two weeks before the fight, the same serious neck injury that ended his WWF career.

Ken Shamrock engaged in a feud with Don Frye during his career in the Pride Fighting Championships, whose background was Don Frye's trash talking.

Frye made comments to the effect that Shamrock cheated on and divorced his wife to date a young girl.

Frye joked that Ken Shamrock's estranged father Bob and brother Frank would be in Frye's corner for the fight.

Ken Shamrock was enraged by Frye's trash talk, causing a feud between Shamrock and Frye.

Since then, Frye has stated that he only resorted to personal trash talk to make Ken Shamrock want to fight him.

The feud ended on February 24,2002, at Pride 19, where Ken Shamrock fought Frye in the main event in a match that potentially had PRIDE Heavyweight Championship title implications.

Frye got the edge on a series of clinch battles, while Ken Shamrock dropped down for an ankle lock and transitioned into both a kneebar and a toehold, wrenching Frye's leg badly; however, despite the damage, Frye refused to tap out and managed to knock Ken Shamrock down in a subsequent punching exchange.

The bout moved to the mat, where Ken Shamrock attempted another ankle lock, only for Frye to try to counter with one of his own and finally refusing to tap out by sheer will until the time ran out.

In October 2005, Ken Shamrock lost to Kazushi Sakuraba in Pride: Fully Loaded by TKO.

Ken Shamrock staggered back and ultimately fell into the ropes, his head hanging out of the ring and his back turned to Sakuraba.

Opinions were mixed regarding the KO's legitimacy, though Ken Shamrock's adopted brother and rival, Frank, stated to believe the stoppage was justified.

Ken Shamrock leaped onto the top of the cage, screaming at Ortiz and angrily waving his finger in Ortiz's face.

On November 22,2002, at UFC 40, nearly four years after the confrontation at UFC 19, Ken Shamrock returned to the UFC to fight Ortiz in a title match for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

Ken Shamrock seriously contemplated retirement from MMA, citing the fact that he had never lost two fights in a row in his career before and he had a buildup of injuries.

On November 21,2003, at UFC 45, Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock became the first inductees to the UFC Hall of Fame.

Ken Shamrock originally thought it was just "wear and tear", but an MRI revealed a torn rotator cuff.

Ken Shamrock applied a heel hook early in the fight that put Franklin on crutches for a week, but Franklin escaped and defeated Ken Shamrock by a TKO.

On November 19,2005, at UFC 56, Dana White, the UFC president, announced that Ken Shamrock would be one of the coaches for the upcoming third season of The Ultimate Fighter.

In my opinion, Ken is the greatest UFC fighter ever.

Ken Shamrock was portrayed badly on the show, feuding with his fighters and often appearing uninterested.

Ken Shamrock lost the rematch with Ortiz in 1:18 of the first round by a technical knockout.

However, Ken Shamrock approached Ortiz and, after the two talked for several seconds, Ken Shamrock said they could put all of their animosity aside as it was always "just business", shaking hands and burying the hatchet.

Ken Shamrock was rumored to fight Englishman Steve McDonald at UFC 75, but he was ultimately released from his UFC contract in June 2007.

Ken Shamrock stated that the UFC released him solely because of his decision to coach in the International Fight League.

Ken Shamrock then engaged in a feud with White in the media and ultimately sued the UFC for breach of contract, citing that he had one fight left on his deal that the UFC had to honor.

Ken Shamrock ultimately lost his suit against the UFC and was ordered by the court to pay Zuffa's attorney fees, totaling $175,000.

In early 2007, Ken Shamrock became the coach of the Nevada Lions for the International Fight League.

Roy Nelson, one of Ken Shamrock's fighters, was the reigning IFL Heavyweight Champion when the league was bought out and disbanded.

Ken Shamrock was injured before the match and could not compete for at least 45 days.

Ken Shamrock knocked Clifton down with a right hand and finished him via arm bar from side control in the first round.

Ken Shamrock was then scheduled to fight Bobby Lashley, but tested positive for steroids after the Clifton fight and received a one-year suspension.

Ken Shamrock faced Pedro Rizzo on July 18,2010, at an event called Impact Fighting Championships in Sydney, Australia.

Ken Shamrock's next fight was against Johnathan Ivey for the USA MMA promotion on October 16,2010.

Ken Shamrock then fought Mike Bourke on November 25,2010, in Durban, South Africa for the King of the Cage promotion.

Ken Shamrock was scheduled to face Antony Rea at WEF 46 on April 22,2011.

Ken Shamrock withdrew from the fight with Rea due to a staph infection.

On January 8,2015, Ken Shamrock announced that he would fight James Quinn in the United Kingdom in a Bare Knuckle Boxing match.

On March 11,2016, it was revealed by Texas Combat Sports commission that Ken Shamrock had failed his pre-fight drug test.

Ken Shamrock has been criticized by some in the MMA media for fighting too far past his prime.

Ken Shamrock is way past his prime, it gets to the point where it's dangerous for that guy to still be fighting.

Ken Shamrock's fighting style has varied over the course of his career.

Ken Shamrock sustained a large amount of injuries during his WWF career, including a serious neck injury and several knee injuries.

Ken Shamrock has stated that his knee injuries caused him difficulty in shooting and taking people down, which caused him to shift his style towards striking and abandon his grappling pedigree.

In July 2019, Ken Shamrock announced he would begin his own bare-knuckle boxing promotion called Valor.

Frank asserts that he and Ken Shamrock have never been close and that his attempts to mend their relationship were rejected by Ken Shamrock.

In 2005, Ken Shamrock married a woman named Tonya whom he had known since childhood.

Ken Shamrock then proceeded to throw her off and followed up with strikes that knocked her unconscious.

Ken Shamrock was later the star of a low-budget martial arts film in 1997 called Champions alongside Danny Trejo.

Ken Shamrock released his book, Inside The Lion's Den, on March 15,1998.