Mainstream Media Getting Hip to MMA History

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Y’all know what an MMA history geek I am so you can imagine how tickled I was to read this morning’s piece on the Japanese history of MMA by Todd Martin for CBS Sports. Here’s one little nugget about how Ken Shamrock got involved and learned submission wrestling:

While the UWF still promoted pro wrestling in front of the camera, the promotion’s wrestlers were preparing for shoots behind the scenes. Ken Shamrock’s initiation into the UWF focused on what he could do in a shoot. Shamrock was doing American pro wrestling and was given a UWF tape by fellow wrestler Dean Malenko. Shamrock was impressed and given a tryout in Miami. He had a wrestling and boxing background and was able to dominate the other fighters at the tryout.

Shamrock was then brought to Japan, where he was given a two-hour tryout with a fresh sparring partner every 30 minutes. He did well against the first two, but the others were Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. Funaki and Suzuki tapped Shamrock repeatedly, and Shamrock concluded he needed to learn these techniques. He would go to Japan three weeks before his matches and train with Funaki, Suzuki, Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Yoshiki Takahashi.

Shamrock’s experiences were typical for UWF wrestlers. They were training to be legitimate submission wrestlers but didn’t yet have the outlet to fully demonstrate their skills.

Also check out Fight Opinion where they’ve got more, including video.

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About the author

Nate Wilcox

Nate Wilcox is the founding editor of BloodyElbow.com. As such he has hired every editor and writer to work for the site. Wilcox’s writing for BE is known for its emphasis on MMA history, the evolution of fighting techniques and strong opinions. Wilcox developed the SBN MMA consensus rankings which were featured in USA Today from 2009 to 2011. Before founding BE, Wilcox was a political operative working for such figures as Senators John Kerry and Mark Warner and an early political blogger. He is the co-author of Netroots Rising, a history of the political blogosphere from 2003 to 2007. Wilcox also hosts the Let It Roll podcast on music history for the Pantheon Podcast Network.