Python
10-07-2006, 06:45 PM
Raw hatred fuels Ortiz, Shamrock for UFC 61BY BOB EMANUEL JR.
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Audio | Ken Shamrock
Audio | Tito Ortiz
At the conclusion of Tuesday night's Ultimate Fighting Championship's Ultimate Fight Night 4, do not expect the main event combatants, Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock, to share an embrace, a smile or even a handshake.
The two legitimately possess a hatred for each other. When they last fought in July at UFC 61: Bitter Rivals, uniformed officers, spanning the entirety of the Octagon, were required to keep them apart after Ortiz's disputed first-round victory.
''There will be no normalcy after this fight,'' Ortiz said. 'I will still hate him just as much as I hated him the first time. You just don't like a person all of a sudden after you beat him three times. It's just one of those things. If he would have embraced the loss that he got the first time, then it would be a lot different. The way he talked smack after the fight, I was just like, 'Whatever.' I will never shake his hand.''
Shamrock contends referee Herb Dean stopped the fight too quickly, at just 1:18 into the first round. Shamrock, whose trainer said he was using a rope-a-dope technique, absorbed several elbows directly to his head when Dean intervened.
Shamrock and his trainers were upset with Dean's decision and questioned why UFC veteran referee John McCarthy did not officiate the high-profile bout.
''John's always reffed the big fights,'' Shamrock said. ``Why are we putting Herb in there? Not that Herb is not a good referee, but I don't think he was seasoned enough or understood the magnitude of this fight. Because, if he did, it wouldn't have gone that way. It was one of the deals that we worked into the contract, that John would be the referee.''
Ortiz, predictably, thought the decision was justified.
''I really don't think it was stopped quick,''` said Ortiz, who -- provided he improves to 3-0 versus Shamrock -- will fight UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell on Dec. 30.
``He was four elbows away from being unconscious. The referee stepped in and did his job. He wasn't really responding to the elbows I was hitting him with, and Herb Dean stepped in and stopped it. When you can't intelligently defend yourself, the fights are always over.''
After the fight, Ortiz spoke of how he would love another opportunity to defeat Shamrock and went so far as to say he would become the first combatant to kill his opponent in the Octagon.
The message was predictable based on the hatred expressed by the two over the years.
Each fighter has a reason to dislike the other. Both explanations begin around the same time, with both fighters claiming a lack of respect from the other.
There is just one thing both fighters can agree on -- where and when the animosity began.
''I guess it started seven years ago when I beat Jerry Bohlander and Guy Mezger,'' Ortiz said. 'We just had a rivalry against each other. Their group walked around like the Cobra Kai of Karate Kid, really just bad attitude people. I just really didn't like him too much. I saw, at one of the UFCs, a kid came up to Shamrock and asked for an autograph, and he kind of just shunned the kid on. I saw that and was like, `Wow. He's pretty much an [expletive] right there.' I really disliked him from that point on.''' Shamrock said it started when Ortiz beat Bohlander and ''did his little shimmy after the fight.'' It escalated during Ortiz's second bout with Mezger.
''That was a questionable stoppage,'' Shamrock said. ``Then, there was no striking to the back of the head. I felt like he was hitting Guy in the back of the head. And they were both so exhausted that there was no power behind any of it. When [Referee John McCarthy] reached in and stopped the action, I thought he was restarting the action or warning Tito. Instead, he awarded the fight to Tito.
'. . . No big deal. I figured I would protest it later. Then Tito got up like he just destroyed him. He walked around, doing his little thing. Then he put on a shirt that said 'Gay.' His name is Guy, but he had it put on as 'Gay is my [expletive].' I was like, 'What are you doing?' Then he turned around and flipped us off.''
Shamrock, who was with his training partners, many of whom were around from the beginning, took offense.
''We're in there through the hard times making little money and taking a lot of heat with the way that this sport was and stood in it and did all these things so these guys can have a career in it now, to turn around and flip me off with no reason and rhyme, it just escalated from there,'' Shamrock said. ``It never stopped. He just didn't see my reasoning. He didn't see why I was so mad.''
The bad blood continued through their first fight in Nov. 2002, when Ortiz won via a technical knock out.
''We fought the first time since we had our words toward each other,'' Ortiz said. ``I beat him down, and I thought he would embrace the fact I beat him down. Then all of a sudden he said, 'My knee was hurt. That can never happen again.'''
Their paths crossed paths again when Ortiz and Shamrock were named coaches for the Ultimate Fighter: Season 3. The caveat to the deal was the opportunity to fight at the show's conclusion in July.
''I said we'll do it a second time,'' Ortiz said. ``I ended up being a coach on Ultimate Fighter and I seen how he was treating the kids there. He just had no respect towards the kids at all.''
Ortiz claimed the decision in front of a sold out crowd and an amazing pay-per-view audience of nearly 775,000 buys. The disputed ending caused everyone involved to push toward a third fight.
''I wouldn't have done another pay-per-view,'' Shamrock said. ``No way. The fans felt cheated. I felt cheated. I wouldn't have done another one. I said we can't charge them again. SpikeTV stepped up and said we'll just put this on TV. I'm all about it if we can give back to the fan. They paid for something that they didn't get to see. They got robbed, and I got robbed.''
Ortiz is already looking ahead to his title shot in December.
''I'm glad to do it,'' Ortiz said. ``I'm fine with it. It's ok. Let's get it done. I'm in great shape. I really can't wait to put this fight past me and get on with my world title shot.''
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Audio | Ken Shamrock
Audio | Tito Ortiz
At the conclusion of Tuesday night's Ultimate Fighting Championship's Ultimate Fight Night 4, do not expect the main event combatants, Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock, to share an embrace, a smile or even a handshake.
The two legitimately possess a hatred for each other. When they last fought in July at UFC 61: Bitter Rivals, uniformed officers, spanning the entirety of the Octagon, were required to keep them apart after Ortiz's disputed first-round victory.
''There will be no normalcy after this fight,'' Ortiz said. 'I will still hate him just as much as I hated him the first time. You just don't like a person all of a sudden after you beat him three times. It's just one of those things. If he would have embraced the loss that he got the first time, then it would be a lot different. The way he talked smack after the fight, I was just like, 'Whatever.' I will never shake his hand.''
Shamrock contends referee Herb Dean stopped the fight too quickly, at just 1:18 into the first round. Shamrock, whose trainer said he was using a rope-a-dope technique, absorbed several elbows directly to his head when Dean intervened.
Shamrock and his trainers were upset with Dean's decision and questioned why UFC veteran referee John McCarthy did not officiate the high-profile bout.
''John's always reffed the big fights,'' Shamrock said. ``Why are we putting Herb in there? Not that Herb is not a good referee, but I don't think he was seasoned enough or understood the magnitude of this fight. Because, if he did, it wouldn't have gone that way. It was one of the deals that we worked into the contract, that John would be the referee.''
Ortiz, predictably, thought the decision was justified.
''I really don't think it was stopped quick,''` said Ortiz, who -- provided he improves to 3-0 versus Shamrock -- will fight UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell on Dec. 30.
``He was four elbows away from being unconscious. The referee stepped in and did his job. He wasn't really responding to the elbows I was hitting him with, and Herb Dean stepped in and stopped it. When you can't intelligently defend yourself, the fights are always over.''
After the fight, Ortiz spoke of how he would love another opportunity to defeat Shamrock and went so far as to say he would become the first combatant to kill his opponent in the Octagon.
The message was predictable based on the hatred expressed by the two over the years.
Each fighter has a reason to dislike the other. Both explanations begin around the same time, with both fighters claiming a lack of respect from the other.
There is just one thing both fighters can agree on -- where and when the animosity began.
''I guess it started seven years ago when I beat Jerry Bohlander and Guy Mezger,'' Ortiz said. 'We just had a rivalry against each other. Their group walked around like the Cobra Kai of Karate Kid, really just bad attitude people. I just really didn't like him too much. I saw, at one of the UFCs, a kid came up to Shamrock and asked for an autograph, and he kind of just shunned the kid on. I saw that and was like, `Wow. He's pretty much an [expletive] right there.' I really disliked him from that point on.''' Shamrock said it started when Ortiz beat Bohlander and ''did his little shimmy after the fight.'' It escalated during Ortiz's second bout with Mezger.
''That was a questionable stoppage,'' Shamrock said. ``Then, there was no striking to the back of the head. I felt like he was hitting Guy in the back of the head. And they were both so exhausted that there was no power behind any of it. When [Referee John McCarthy] reached in and stopped the action, I thought he was restarting the action or warning Tito. Instead, he awarded the fight to Tito.
'. . . No big deal. I figured I would protest it later. Then Tito got up like he just destroyed him. He walked around, doing his little thing. Then he put on a shirt that said 'Gay.' His name is Guy, but he had it put on as 'Gay is my [expletive].' I was like, 'What are you doing?' Then he turned around and flipped us off.''
Shamrock, who was with his training partners, many of whom were around from the beginning, took offense.
''We're in there through the hard times making little money and taking a lot of heat with the way that this sport was and stood in it and did all these things so these guys can have a career in it now, to turn around and flip me off with no reason and rhyme, it just escalated from there,'' Shamrock said. ``It never stopped. He just didn't see my reasoning. He didn't see why I was so mad.''
The bad blood continued through their first fight in Nov. 2002, when Ortiz won via a technical knock out.
''We fought the first time since we had our words toward each other,'' Ortiz said. ``I beat him down, and I thought he would embrace the fact I beat him down. Then all of a sudden he said, 'My knee was hurt. That can never happen again.'''
Their paths crossed paths again when Ortiz and Shamrock were named coaches for the Ultimate Fighter: Season 3. The caveat to the deal was the opportunity to fight at the show's conclusion in July.
''I said we'll do it a second time,'' Ortiz said. ``I ended up being a coach on Ultimate Fighter and I seen how he was treating the kids there. He just had no respect towards the kids at all.''
Ortiz claimed the decision in front of a sold out crowd and an amazing pay-per-view audience of nearly 775,000 buys. The disputed ending caused everyone involved to push toward a third fight.
''I wouldn't have done another pay-per-view,'' Shamrock said. ``No way. The fans felt cheated. I felt cheated. I wouldn't have done another one. I said we can't charge them again. SpikeTV stepped up and said we'll just put this on TV. I'm all about it if we can give back to the fan. They paid for something that they didn't get to see. They got robbed, and I got robbed.''
Ortiz is already looking ahead to his title shot in December.
''I'm glad to do it,'' Ortiz said. ``I'm fine with it. It's ok. Let's get it done. I'm in great shape. I really can't wait to put this fight past me and get on with my world title shot.''
[Only registered and activated users can see links]