Comments on: Report: Ken Shamrock was going to be “paid to stand with him as well”

By: Seth Petruzelli: ‘The Promoters Kinda Hinted To Me, And They Gave Me The Money To Stand And Trade With Him’ (Update VI)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 16:51:57 +0000

[...] Meltzer’s colleague, heard that Ken Shamrock was also getting paid more to stand with Kimbo. Here’s the quote. Seth Petruzelli said that he was paid to stand with Kimbo. Well, he said that and then he claimed [...]

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:24:34 +0000

God bless Ken!

By: Terry Querns

Terry Querns — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:06:57 +0000

Jesus Christ (and his friend Peter too), could Maggie Hendricks’ credibility as an MMA blogger possibly be any lower? After her previous ridiculous post in which she ruthlessly ripped Gina Carano for making a modest self-deprecating statement about not thinking of herself as the face of women’s MMA even if other people think of her that way, now she’s using the EliteXC event from this past weekend to make a point that female fighters need to make weight if they want to be taken seriously.

That’s a good point except for the fact that all of the females on the card did make weight. The fact that Carano had to remove her clothes to make weight doesn’t mean that she didn’t make weight.

Also Cyborg vs. Takahashi was a bout that was contracted at 148 pounds and both fighters made weight with no problems. Hendricks seems to think that both fighters came in eight pounds over the weight limit despite the information in lots of press releases and news articles before the event stating that Cyborg vs. Takahashi was scheduled to be a 148-pound fight all along.

By: Mr. Mike

Mr. Mike — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:02:32 +0000

Kimbo made his name being a fist fighter, something that many in the black community where I live look at as real fighting, or honorable fighting. Kimbo should have fought in stand-up fights, with some clinching skills included, kind of like an , old, old style boxing. That way, he would have had a strong chance against any fighter, except a boxer. The appeal is to see a brawl, not sweet science. Kimbo could have been promoted that way instead as an MMA fighter.

By: Ivan Trembow

Ivan Trembow — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:56:08 +0000

Quote from Florida athletic commission official in CBS Sportsline article:

“”After further review of the comments that are in question, we believe that he is referring to the fact that he got paid more to keep the show going,” Antonacci said. “Meaning that before the fight, Ken Shamrock was injured and couldn’t fight Kimbo Slice. So Seth stepped in and said ‘OK, I’ll fight him.’ And without that, there wouldn’t have been a main event that night.”"

It takes a very dense person to look at the actual quote from Petruzelli and come to the conclusion that he was just talking about taking the fight in general. Either that, or a person who is very brazen about lying. Clearly, the Florida State Athletic Commission is not doing its job.

Based on those quotes, it is clear that the Florida State Athletic Commission is not going to do anything about this. Given that the parties involved, if Petruzelli’s original quotes are accurate, would potentially be guilty of manipulating a fight, the onus now falls on the authorities in Florida to begin a criminal investigation. The fact that the fight wasn’t outright “fixed” doesn’t change the fact that the fight was manipulated if Petruzelli was indeed paid not to take Ferguson down.

By: liger05

liger05 — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:20:05 +0000

If your gonna pay people to get in there and stand why not just pay them to lose. Should of just ‘worked the damn fight!!!

By: David

David — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:37:46 +0000

Zach, with such great reportage, you forget to analyze how in the damn world would anybody be prosecuted for this hear-say type of offense…

By: Grape Knee High

Grape Knee High — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:34:56 +0000

Meh. I’ll be honest, I’m more worried about idiot refs who stand up fighters in side control than Jared Shaw’s idiocy.

By: Jeremy (not that Jeremy)

Jeremy (not that Jeremy) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:29:02 +0000

Too bad that they haven’t been throwing wrestlers out of the welterweight division. GSP’s last couple fights have been exhausting to watch.

At least four of the top five guys in that division don’t seem to be able to finish a fight lately.

By: Michaelthebox

Michaelthebox — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:26:52 +0000

Ultimo, the key difference is that while a fighter is penalized for putting on a boring fight, he’s rewarded for putting on an exciting fight, wherever the fight takes place. The UFC hates Koscheck/Sanchez style circling, Sylvia/Vera style fence pushing, and lay and pray, all equally. Moreover, the standards for reward and punishment are pretty much the same across the board for the entire UFC and your entire career in the UFC, so if you want to train to be more exciting, you can be. But its entirely up to you if you want to be an exciting kickboxer, clinch fighter, wrestler, or sub artist.

While the UFC sets up some matchups to favor specific fighters, we’re all aware of the style matchup, and we can bet accordingly. If Petruzelli or Shamrock were offered “stand-up” bonuses, that directly impacts the odds of the fight, in a way bettors are not aware of. Thats fight fixing, flat out.

If they had announced to everyone that they told Petruzelli to stand and offered him money to do so, that would be a different situation. But if they did offer him money without telling anyone, they fixed the fight.