Ken Shamrock

PRESS RELEASE; Ken Shamrock and Wargods Promotion have decided to halt their plans of co promoting and putting on cage fighting events together. Each company has decided that they need to concentrate their efforts on new upcoming projects that have developed on both sides which are very time consuming. Ken Shamrock Promotions is in negotiations with a reality television show – as well in talks with an entertainment company interested in creating a docu/drama about Ken’s life and career. Wargods has signed with certain southern CA casinos to put on a season of shows in 2009.

A Shamrock spokesperson said, “The guys over at Wargods are very hard workers and all of us here at KSP hope that they have continued success in their promotions and whatever else they put their mind to”.

SEE ALSO: Ken Shamrock Tests Positive For Steroids, Suspended One Year

Ken Shamrock

The California State Athletic Commission on Wednesday suspended Ken Shamrock for one year after the veteran fighter tested positive for multiple steroids following his first-round submission of Ross Clifton on February 13th in Fresno, California. The win was Shamrock’s first in nearly five years.

Shamrock’s suspension runs until February 1, 2010 and he also faces a $2,500 fine after testing positive for Norandrosterone, Noretiocholanolone, and Stanozolol. Norandrosterone and Noretiocholanolone are metabolites of the commonly used anabolic steroid nandrolone, while Stanozolol is another commonly used performance enhancer.

“The World’s Most Dangerous Man” was slated to square off with former professional wrestler Bobby Lashley in the MMA main event of “March Badness,” a hybrid boxing/MMA event scheduled for March 21st in Pensacola, Florida.

Shamrock has the right to appeal the suspension and will reportedly do so, according to Sherdog, who spoke with his attorney, Rod Donohoo.

“Ken was taking legal over-the-counter products, and based upon our preliminary research, I’m investigating if those products were the result of these findings,” said Donohoo. “Ken is willing to submit to immediate testing in Sacramento to prove his innocence.”

Bobby Lashley

Bobby Lashley, a former collegiate and professional wrestler who recently made his MMA debut, will square off with veteran Ken Shamrock on the undercard of the MMA-boxing hybrid event “March Badness,” which takes place on March 21st in Pensacola, Pensacola.

Bloody Elbow was the first to report the news earlier this evening and additional outlets have since confirmed that the heavyweight matchup has indeed been booked.

Boxers Roy Jones Jr. and Omar Sheika will square off in the event’s headliner with BJ Flores also scheduled to be in action on the boxing portion of the card. The MMA lineup also features Seth Petruzelli, who was last seen defeating Kimbo Slice in November, against former WEC title-holder Doug Marshall as well as former IFL heavyweight champion Roy Nelson facing UFC veteran Jeff Monson.

Lashley successfully made his MMA debut in December with a first-round TKO of Joshua Franklin, opening up a deep cut on Franklin’s face that forced the bout to be halted just 41-seconds into the opening round.

Shamrock earned his first victory in nearly five years when he submitted super heavyweight Ross Clifton last month.

Ken Shamrock

MMA legends Ken Shamrock and Tank Abbott both earned first-round stoppage victories in their bouts on Friday at Wargods: Valentine’s Eve Massacre, which took place at the Selland Arena in Fresno, California.

Despite more than a 150-pound weight disadvantage against Ross Clifton, Shamrock knocked Clifton to the canvas early in the first-round before securing a fight-ending armbar that forced “Grizzly” to tap. The victory was Shamrock’s first in six tries since early-2005.

Abbott stopped a four-fight losing streak of his own that included a 2008 loss to Kimbo Slice with his first-round knockout of the sub-.500 Mike Bourke in the evening’s co-main event.

The victories set up a likely future matchup between Shamrock and Abbott that is expected to take place in April or May.

The event’s full results were:

• Ken Shamrock def. Ross Clifton via submission (armbar) — Round 1, 1:00
• Mike Moreno def. Gary Padilla via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• David “Tank” Abbott def. Mike Bourke via KO (punches) — Round 1, 0:29
• Rick Reeves def. Nathan James via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 3, 2:07
• Isaac De Jesus def. Ashe Bowman via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Josh Haynes def. Refael Del Real via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
• Zolia Frausto def. Karina Hallinan via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
• Ron Kessler def. Darren Freeman via split decision (27-30, 30-27, 29-28)

Ken Shamrock

Aging UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock is scheduled to participate in the main event of “Wargods: Valentine’s Eve Masacre” this coming Friday night in Fresno, California at the Selland Arena. The event is a co-promotion between Wargods and KSP (Ken Shamrock Promotions), marking the fighter’s first foray into the world of promoting.

Shamrock has put up a 2-8 record in his last 10 fights, and brings a five fight losing streak into the event, and recently admitted to MMAJunkie that he knows his days as an elite level fighter are over. Friday night’s fight seems to be channeling the Japanese infatuation with “freak show” fights, as Shamrock is slated to face the 6′8″, 340 lbs Ross “Grizzly” Clifton. Shamrock, in response to criticism of the match up, told MMAJunkie:

It’s something that’s interesting to me. I’ve never fought anybody that’s that big before. I’ve seen a lot of other guys that have been able to do that and it just seemed interesting to me. It’s another challenge for me to go in there and fight somebody that big. I’ve done everything in this business, but I haven’t fought anybody that’s 400 pounds. I thought, ‘Man, what a challenge.’

Rumors have also already begun to circulate that regardless of the outcome of Friday Night’s fights, Shamrock’s next opponent could be fellow old timer, David “Tank” Abbot, who will also be in action this weekend, against Mike Bourke.

The full card for Wargods: Valentine’s Eve Masacre is reported to be:

• Ross Clifton vs. Ken Shamrock
• Wesley “Cabbage” Correira vs. Buddy Roberts
• Mike Moreno vs. Gary Padilla
• “Tank” Abbott vs. Mike Bourke
• B.J. Lacy vs. Kyacey Uscola
• Jen Babcock vs. Jennifer Tate
• Ashe Bowman vs. Isaac De Jesus
• Tonya Evinger vs. TBA
• Nate James vs. Ric Reeves
• Josh Haynes vs. Rafael Del Real
• Zolia Frausto vs. Karina Hallinan
• David Espinoza vs. Bradon Pieper

Ken Shamrock, a loser of five-straight and seven of his last eight, was to headline EliteXC “Heat” last Saturday opposite Kimbo Slice but was forced to withdraw from the bout just hours before it was set to take place after sufferening a cut above his eye while warming up for the fight. Many speculated that the last-minute withdrawal would likely mark the end of Shamrocks career, and along with it the possibility of a bout against his brother Frank.

Frank Shamrock, meanwhile, had won ten-straight fights before dropping two of his last three contests. Shamrock lost via disqualification to Renzo Gracie at EliteXC “Destiny” in early-2007 after kneeing his head while on the ground, but bounced back to win the Strikeforce middleweight title by submitting Phil Baroni in mid-2007. His title reign would be short-lived, however, as he’d go on to lose the title to Cung Le via TKO in March after being unable to continue due to a broken arm.

Elite XC, CBS, and Showtime are all expected to involved in broadcasting the event, which is expected to take place in April, though no location or venue has yet been determined.

For what it’s worth, we heard in the days leading up to the fight that Ken Shamrock was being paid to stand with him as well. It’s a pretty shady way of doing business, and while it’s not outright working the fight it is attempting to give one man an advantage — or a perceived advantage, as did didn’t help Kimbo one goddamn bit — over another.

The news comes on the heels of Seth Petruzelli disclosing that EliteXC also paid him to stand and trade with Slice. Only time will tell if anything comes from all of this, though, regardless of the ultimate outcome, this situation, coupled with Jared Shaw’s over-the-top reaction to Slice’s loss, paints a very poor picture of the struggling promotion.

The matchup was confirmed this afternoon.

Slice (3-0) posted his third-straight victory on EliteXC’s CBS debut card in May with a controversial third-round TKO of James Thompson. He previously defeated Tank Abbot and Bo Cantrell via first-round stoppages.

Shamrock (26-13-2) has lost five-straight contests and has dropped eight of his last ten bouts. He has not won since mid-2004 when he defeated Kimo Leopoldo via first-round knockout at UFC 48 “Payback”. In his most-recent fight Shamrock was defeated by Robert Berry via first-round technical knockout in the main event of Cage Rage 25 in March.

EliteXC’s October 4th event takes place at the BankAtlantic Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida will be broadcast in primetime on CBS beginning at 9pm ET and will feature Slice vs. Shamrock in the evening’s main event. Popular EliteXC female fighter Gina Carano will also return to the cage at the event, taking on Kelly Kobold-Gavin and Jake Shields will put his EliteXC welterweight title on the line against Paul Daley.

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

Tompkins, who coached the Los Angeles Anacondas in the International Fight League (IFL), is 0-4 in his MMA career and has not fought since 2001.

Shamrock (26-13-2) has lost his last four straight bouts and six of his last seven. He was last in action in March, losing to Robert “Buzz” Berry via first-round knockout at Cage Rage 25.

The rules of XFA were described in a recent press release as “K-1 minus the tournament format. Fighters will use hand, foot, leg and knee strikes – essentially the stand-up portion of mixed martial arts (MMA).”

• EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw may be on his way out of ProElite, though reports from his son, Jared Shaw, contest otherwise.
• UFC veteran Ken Shamrock has called for a rematch against Royce Gracie, who may or may not serve as Shamrock’s final opponent.
• The UFC has made the undercard bout between Dustin Hazelett and Josh Burkman available for free viewing on UFC.com. Hazelett earned submission of the night for his super slick armbar.
• “Big” John McCarthy and Mauro Ranallo have been announced as the broadcast team for Affliction “Banned.” This could help explain McCarthy’s previous public statements regarding the UFC’s competition with the Affliction show.
• UFC veteran Jeff Monson has called out Kimbo Slice via an almost-comical YouTube video.
• Brock Lesnar has been rigorously training with seven time BJJ world champion Rodrigo “Comprido” Leite Medeiros for his upcoming bout with Heath Herring at UFC 87.
• Current Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le is leaning more towards an acting career and less towards fighting, according to a recent interview.
• CB Dollaway has stated that he did not “fully commit to the tap” regarding his stinging TUF 7 finale loss to Amir Sandollah.
• Last week UFC veteran Matt Hughes settled out of court on “battery and assault” charges, which stem from an incident that transpired nearly two years ago at UFC 64.
• Dana White said that he feels republican John McCain is the “best presidential candidate for MMA.”
• MMA journeyman Shonie Carter said in a recent interview that his stint on “The Iron Ring” has helped to get “people knowing the minorities in MMA.”
• Affliction has revealed that they are planning events for October and February.
• Paul “Semtex” Daley will return to competition following a six-month retirement to take on Bojan “Zelva” Kosednar at Cage Warriors “Enter the Rough House 7″
• Despite losing her professional debut and suffering a broken jaw that will require surgery, the AFL remains interested in signing Kim Couture to bolster its Women’s division.
• Ken Shamrock’s nephew, lightweight Jeff Shamrock, has signed with Strikeforce.