The following sentence is not a typo. Ken Shamrock, 51, is facing Kimbo Slice, 41, at Bellator 138 this Friday. The fight is a controversial one for the mixed martial arts community, as Kimbo Slice was a failed experiment in the UFC and Shamrock hasn’t had a meaningful victory in more than 10 years.
Shamrock has also been dogged by allegations of steroid use. He recently posted a photo looking absolutely shredded, and claims he’s all natural despite a failed drug test in 2009.
Sat June 20 @theSQDcircle - @KimboSlice vs @ShamrockKen !!! And the man STILL looks ready to go! https://t.co/vQDFjDGX2p
— The Squared Circle (@theSQDcircle) June 9, 2015
Shamrock is a -405 underdog to Slice despite his long, storied history in mixed martial arts. He says that his rigorous training will allow him to overcome the younger (by comparison) and less accomplished Kimbo.
“I’ve been where he’s at,” Shamrock told MMAjunkie Radio. “Where mentally and physically you’ve always just been able to get in there and do it. But then when you really have to dig down and find out who you really are because things don’t come to you easily anymore because of your age and the process of your reaction time slows down and your healing time slows down. You can’t go in the gym and just mop people up in the ring anymore. You’re having to fight for everything you get because you’re not what you used to be.”
Slice is just 4-2 in his MMA career, and 1-2 in the UFC. Neither fighter has been inside the octagon since 2010. Slice’s last fight was a TKO loss to Matt Mitrione, while Shamrock’s last fight was a TKO defeat to Mike Bourke. Despite the underwhelming recent resumes, and the overall negativity surrounding this matchmaking, Bellator president Scott Coker thinks a record number of people will tune in.
"Tito Ortiz set the benchmark with the Bonnar fight and we'd like to beat that record," Coker said. "That's a milestone."
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