Förra helgen ägde UFC 244 rum där Jorge Masvidal lyckades erövra den nyinförda “BMF”-titeln genom att stå som segrare över Nate Diaz efter det att en läkare stoppat matchen. Någon som visar sig inte vara ett fan av denna titel är UFC-veteranen Ken Shamrock.
Shamrock, som nyligen startat upp sin egen ”Bare Knuckle Boxing” organisation, berättade för ESPN hur han inte tycker att det som fighters går igenom idag är i närheten av det fighters gick igenom i MMA:s tidiga ålder.
It’s funny to hear these guys talk about toughness and being tough and being bad. It’s like, man, if they only knew what went through in those beginning days, with no training, there was no map of how to train. There were guys that would go to the park and get in fights with people in order to get training, real training in. You’ve seen a lot of guys that would just do a road tour. They’d drive from one end of California to the other end and they would stop at different places and do fights on these different promotions in the beginning days when there was promotions everywhere. They would drive across country just hitting every stop and fighting at them, just to get the training in.
Shamrock berättar även att det även var svårt att hitta rätt sätt att träna då de flesta kampsportsgym och skolor då var fokuserade på enbart en form av kampsport. Detta gjorde att han till slut själv fick starta sitt egna gym för att träna upp andra. Att dagens fighters dessutom slåss med handskar, en gång per natt och att det går flera månader mellan matcher gör att Shamrock inte kan ta “BMF”-titeln på allvar.
There was no map. There was no way of real training. Obviously, early on we were able to develop a way to do that but for most guys you used to hear stories like that all the time about how guys would go to the park and fight or they’d take fights anywhere just so they can actually get in and get a fight somewhere where they really knew what they were doing because back in the day when I was over in Japan, before they even started the UFC, I couldn’t get anybody to train with me. I would go into karate schools and boxing schools, they were striking and you’d take them down and they’d be like ‘No, what are you talking about’ or I’d get a wrestler and say ‘Shoot on me, I’m not gonna knock you out but I’m gonna punch you.’ There was nobody to do that so I had to open a gym and slowly start training people. So for them to start talking about being a Bad MF, I just kinda laugh and go, oh my gosh, you guys are wearing four-ounce gloves, you fight one time a night, every six months to a year. Really? Come on.
UFC 244 ägde rum den 3:e november på Madison Square Garden i New York City, USA.
