Ken Shamrock was one of the stars of the early UFC mainly because his catch wrestling style defeated most other styles of fighting. His only initial opposition in the early days of the UFC were fellow grapplers Royce Gracie and Dan Severn. He also had issues with Japanese catch wrestlers Minoru Suzuki and Masakatsu Funaki in the Pancrase promotion. Following his initial stint in the UFC Shamrock spent three years in the WWE (WWF at the time). He'd return to action in the Pride 2000 Grand Prix Finals. It was during this comeback in his career that his holes in his overall game came out. Shamrock's catch wrestling was what made him such a success in the early MMA events. The problem is that Shamrock sustained several knee injuries in the WWE causing him to try and shift his style to striking. His lack of skill in that category cause him to loose ten of his last fourteen bouts in MMA. It also didn't help that Shamrock continued fighting long after he should have retired.
Matthew Salzer fell in love with Mixed Martial Arts when he watched Pride Fighting Championships on Japanese TV. He is a lifelong wrestler having earned a Bachelor of Science at Missouri Baptist University. Matthew is the Senior Editor at MMA Freak and has written for Funky Monkey MMA, H4 Entertainment, and MMA Fiends.
