Let the Insanity Begin

There are some days when, as a fan of mixed martial arts, you go to check a bit of news and suddenly don't know what the hell you're looking at. For example, the announced fight between Ken Shamrock and Bobby Lashley.

As part of an upcoming Roy Jones Jr.-promoted event, mixed martial artist turned pro-wrestler turned mixed martial artist Ken Shamrock will take on pro-wrestler turned mixed martial artist Bobby Lashley in a headlining, genre-bending, logic-stretching fight on March 21. Fortunately, they put Seth Petruzelli on the same card, so if Shamrock's face spontaneously explodes they will have a late-replacement on hand. Really, though, let's set all spontaneous explosions aside and speak seriously about this match-up for a moment.

This is a ridiculous match-up.

Having finally snapped a four-year, five-fight losing streak with his victory over Ross Clifton last February, Shamrock seemed ready to ease into the latter days of his career. Beginning with an imminent fight with Tank Abbott, it looked like fans could look forward to a series of fights that, while without any serious ranking-implications, would contain a lot of nostalgia and entertainment value. And, of course, they would be competitive. Because while Shamrock, before last February, may not have won a bout since mid-2005, he hasn't won a fight against a relevant opponent since 1996. Against up-and-comers, title contenders, and solid journeyman fighters, Shamrock has come up short every time since. This fact shouldn't color Shamrock as a poor mixed martial artist so much as it should speak to his seniority.

All sports eventually leave their athletes unable to compete at the elite level. Certainly this is true with mixed martial arts, especially if a fighter began their career in the bare-knuckle days of the early 90s, like Shamrock did. That lengthy career has taken its toll, as Shamrock himself has attested. His knees are bad, making takedowns and takedown defense difficult, and his joints don't work as smooth as they used to. He's been turned from a grappler to a brawler during a time in his life when his capacity for punishment is diminished and the competition is younger, stronger, and faster.

So what is a man like Ken Shamrock, who obviously eats, sleeps, and breathes fighting, supposed to do? Fight the Ross Cliftons of the world, maybe. But better yet, rematch Oleg Taktarov and Masakatsu Funaki and Maurice Smith. Fight Tank Abbott, Mark Kerr, Marco Ruas, and Mark Coleman. There's some five years worth of fights within the pool of the MMA old guard. Shamrock doesn't have to spend his last able years exiled from the sport, nor does he have to be cannon fodder for some talented new comer looking to add a name scalp to his belt. Which brings us to the question: whose bright idea was this?

Shamrock himself seemed ready to promote a fight with Tank Abbott. A victory over Abbott with, perhaps, a follow-up win over comparable competition would have likely spring-boarded Shamrock into a marketable fight with brother Frank Shamrock. A fight with Lashley never appeared on the radar. This leaves Lashley's management, and Jones Jr.'s Squared Ring Promotions.

Lashley's management ought to be looking to develop their fighter while at the same time increase his popularity, and so there's nothing particularly reprehensible about seeking out or accepting a fight with someone as notorious and brittle as Shamrock. Squared Ring Promotion is, however, another matter. While they have a duty to create a profitable event, they also have a responsibility to all their fighters equally, whether they care to admit it or not, and a responsibility to the sport of MMA generally.

Consider first that Lashley is a terrible match up for Shamrock. Shamrock has a weak chin, and his trouble with powerful wrestlers has only gotten worse over the years. At this stage in his career, he simply can't match the athleticism and brute force of the younger generation. It's not even clear if he can match the peers within his own generation--while he may have beaten Kimo Leopoldo, he lost to Dan Severn and Don Frye. Everyone except for Ken Shamrock's blinding rage should be able to see that Squared Ring Promotion is tossing Shamrock under the bus in order to build a name fighter in the explosive Bobby Lashley. One might argue that if Shamrock accepts the fight, then he accepts also the ramifications of such a fight. But is it really fair for a company to exploit a person's compulsive willingness and desire to compete? Contrary to brother Frank's claims, Ken Shamrock has, perhaps absurdly, stepped up to fight amidst horrible odds. He's no coward, and may lack the sense of self-preservation that other mixed martial artists may possess. We should appreciate him as a consummate competitor, not make him pay for it in blood and injury.

Consider also that bizarre mismatches and unnecessary thrashings are what caused MMA to falter in the first place. Savvy marketing and competitive matchmaking are what saved it. The Shamrock-Lashley fight represents a step back in the evolution of the sport and business of MMA--a short-sighted move often committed by those promoters just jumping on the bandwagon (EliteXC being the most recent, infamous example). It makes the sport look cheap and brutal.

Apparently insane as he may be, Ken Shamrock deserves the respect that he went nuts for and screamed about on national television during The Ultimate Fighter 3. The way to offer this to him isn't by letting the new generation use him as a stepladder. Promote him properly. Give him the fights that belong to his generation, let him recapture our imaginations as he reminds us of what and when made him great.

Only in the wild do the young maim and oust their elders--let's remember that there are human beings in the ring.