« Gong Kakutougi status in question | Home | Monday MMA headlines »
The magnetism of feuds
By Tomer Chen | February 18, 2007
By Tomer Chen
Ali-Frazier. Zale-Graziano. Shamrock-Ortiz. All of these feuds have etched a place into the history of combat sports and when you list one of these opponents, inevitably the other gets mentioned out of word association. But why? Why do people get enamored by the desire of two fighters getting into a ring (or cage) and batter each other, trying to be regarded as the superior fighter between the two and to gain the immortality of one-upping their opponent? It is a question that really lies in the nature of the very feuds that are held on a pedestal (such as the aforementioned) and how they become irrevocably linked in the minds of the fans. And it is best to study each case scenario to see how the feuds drew in the public’s imagination.
Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier is regarded by fans of Boxing as perhaps the greatest rivalry that ever existed. Ali (then known as Cassius Clay), the 1960 Olympic Gold Medalist at Light Heavyweight who had  become famous at first for his predictions on when he’d stop his opponents early on in his career (including the legendary Archie Moore who was at the very tail end of his own career and Ali’s first trainer before Angelo Dundee became his official trainer), became the heavy underdog against Sonny Liston and was called “The Louisville Lip” for his trash talking of opponents before contests, often giving them insulting nicknames (such as calling Liston the “Big Ugly Bear”) and generally showing disdain for the status quo. Ali had, before the Liston bout had a near KO experience against Henry Cooper in England where, as legend has it, Angelo Dundee cut Ali’s gloves to force a mid-fight glove change and buy time from a knockdown at the end of Round 4 that had Ali badly dazed and probably would have been counted out if the bell didn’t save him, but most reports show that Ali only got 5 additional seconds between rounds, not a complete time buyer of several minutes as was previously claimed. In addition, Ali had his first Ring Magazine Fight of the Year against veteran journeyman Doug Jones in 1963, winning a very close (and disputed) decision. The combination of these two factors as well as the fact that Liston had steamrolled over virtually everyone he had faced in the last 4 years of his career prior to the Ali fight (which was the vast majority of the division at the time), culminating in back-to-back first round KO victories over Floyd Patterson, the first Heavyweight champion to win back the title after losing it (which he did from Ingemar Johansson). Sonny Liston, whose criminal background (he was in prison before) and affiliation with the mafia had branded him a veritable black sheep in the Boxing world, had nonetheless proven himself as the dominant force of his era and was a clear 7-1 favorite over Ali.
Ali, who was not going to let Liston try to stare him down and psyche him out as he traditionally did with most of his opponents, began taunting Liston at the weigh-ins, acting hysterical in his belief that he would beat Liston and even had a pulse of 120 taken, which many believed was a sign that he was really afraid of Liston. The fight, which lasted seven rounds, saw Ali outclass Liston for four rounds, opening up with combinations later into the fight. However, after the fourth round, Ali complained of a substance that went into his eyes (likely from Liston’s gloves – it is postulated by many that it was a solvent to stop Liston’s cuts and swelling) and almost wanted to quit but Angelo Dundee shoved him out and famously told him to evade Liston and get his eyes cleared. Ali did this and finally, after the sixth round, Liston refused to come out for the seventh, claiming a shoulder injury. An exuberant Ali ran across the ring to the press row and screamed “I’m the greatest!”, yet many felt that the awkward ending of the first bout suggested that it was a dive or some other funny business was going. The rematch, meanwhile, only created more questions. Before their second bout, Ali became a Muslim and joined the Nation of Islam, going under the name of ‘Cassius X’ in tribute of ‘Malcolm X’ and shortly afterward became Muhammad Ali. This shift in ideology was shocking to the Boxing world, who quickly supported the dethroned king in hoping he’d take out this new champion before he could shake up the world (even if the times were already changing).
The rematch, held in Lewiston, Maine a year after their first bout, saw Ali knock down Liston with a punch that many at ringside felt either didn’t exist or was, at best, grazing. Some believed that Liston took a dive in order to appease the Nation of Islam, who made death threats at him while others claimed Liston took a dive for his mafia associates. However, if this is true, the footage of the fight seems to tarnish what should have been a clear Ali win. Liston rolls on the ground and sees Ali standing above him, taunting at him to ‘Get up!’ like Jack Dempsey did to Jess Willard about 45 years earlier. However, the rules of the ring had demanded that Ali go to a neutral corner in order for the count to begin, but the referee, former World Heavyweight Champion ‘Jersey’ Joe Walcott, was totally clueless and ran around the ring, not forcing Ali to go the corner. Nat Fleischer, Ring Magazine’s editor-in-chief and founder, told Walcott that Liston had been counted to ten by his count, but was mistaken as the count couldn’t legally start until Ali began to head towards the neutral corner (which he didn’t until right before Liston got up). Eventually, Liston got up after Ali did move away and was clobbered for a few seconds in a corner before Walcott stopped the bout and gave Ali the win by KO. However, the fight should have been called a ‘No Contest’ given that Walcott broke the Boxing regulations of the time by not enforcing the neutral corner rule. Nonetheless, the strange ending of the first bout along with the whole stink from this bout only exacerbated the damage dealt by the Kefauver Committee investigation.
Ali began his campaign as World Heavyweight Champion by traveling around the world in 1966 following issues with the US military (in refusing to step forward and accept induction due to being a conscientious objector), beating former two time Heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson in 12 rounds, facing the granite chinned George Chuvalo in Toronto, Henry Cooper (again) and Brian London in London, Karl Mildenberger in Frankfurt and then returned to the US to thrash Cleveland Williams in Houston in what was perhaps his finest exhibition of hand speed, foot speed and power (although it should be noted that Williams was shot by a copy not long before the bout). Ali would then have two more bouts in 1967, thrashing Zora Folley and battering Ernie Terrell around while shouting “WHAT’S MY NAME?!” in response to Terrell calling Ali by his old ‘slave name’, Cassius Clay. Following the Folley thrashing, Ali was convicted of failure to accept induction into the US military and was stripped of his Boxing license, passport and World Championship (although Nat Fleischer and most observers would say he could only lose his claim in the ring), out of jail while appealing his conviction. At the same time, Joe Frazier was rising through the ranks.
‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier was an unlikely Olympic Gold Medalist, winning the 1964 Olympic Gold Medal at Heavyweight when Buster Mathis, who beat him at the Olympic trials, dropped out due to an injury and Frazier replaced him. Frazier quickly turned pro and proceeded to build a warpath to the World Heavyweight Championship, stopping 17 out of 19 of his first opponents (including a TKO over George Chuvalo); only rugged Oscar Bonavena and George Johnson survived the distance with the man whose Philly shell style of fighting saw him bore into opponents and bomb them out, specializing in his potent left hook. In 1968, Frazier avenged his amateur loss to Mathis, bombing him out for the New York Heavyweight title, and he proceeded to beat top contenders in Manuel Ramos and Oscar Bonavena (again). In 1969, Frazier beat Dave Zyglewicz and then had the Ring Magazine Fight of the Year against Jerry Quarry, going to war with the granite chinned Quarry and eventually forcing a stoppage in Round 7. The victory over Quarry set up the final bout to crown the successor champion to Ali against Ali’s former sparring partner, Jimmy Ellis, in early 1970. Frazier battered him into submission in 5 rounds and became either the interim Heavyweight Champion or the true World Heavyweight Champion, depending on how you viewed Ali being stripped of his title. A quick KO over legendary Light Heavyweight Champion, Bob Foster, helped set up their first fight. Meanwhile, Ali, who just had the Supreme Court reverse his conviction, thrashed Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena in 1970 to try and get some ring rust off in preparation for the superfight.Â
The fight received huge mainstream attention, with Time magazine calling it “The $5,000,000 Fighters” on their 3/8/71 issue (due to Ali and Frazier having parity at a $2.5 million purse apiece). Frazier was called ‘The Gorilla’ by Ali and also, more callously, an ‘Uncle Tom’, which especially hurt Frazier who helped Ali get some lecture tour money while he was fighting in court for his freedom. The abusive words Ali threw only made Frazier train harder and harder for the bout and their previous friendship quickly disintegrated in hatred. There was also several other factors playing into the hype of the bout: (i) both fighters were undefeated (Ali was 31-0 with 26 KOs while Frazier was 26-0 with 23 KOs) and (ii) Ali represented the change that was coming (or came) to American society while Frazier represented the ideals of the past and a more patriotic stance (since he said if asked, he’d step forward and join the military). The fans sold out Madison Square Garden, where the fight was held and the bout that was to be called the ‘Fight of the Century’ was set to begin. So, on March 8, 1971, the World Heavyweight Champion and the #1 contender/Interim Heavyweight Champion stepped into the ropes and one of the great bouts of history began. For the first few rounds of the fight Ali was able to control Frazier with his jab, but the tank-like Frazier eventually bored his way into Ali and began taking control. The affair was pretty close up until Round 11 when Frazier caught Ali with a perfect hook and stunned him. Ali tried to mock Frazier by pretending he was out cold on his feet, but he was clearly hurt and Frazier carried the war, clearing winning most of the last rounds. In the last round, Frazier punctuated his win with a perfect left hook that dropped Ali and caused pretty bad swelling in his jaw. Ali survived the knockdown, but lost the bout pretty clearly at the end. Most could see Ali was lethargic after about the halfway of the bout and that in the end his ring rust cost him the win. This bout exceeded expectations and was 1971’s Ring Magazine Fight of the Year as well as being generally regarded as one of the great all time bouts.
Following this bout, Ali set on a path to reclaim his former glory, beating top contenders such Jimmy Ellis, McArthur Foster, Jerry Quarry again, Joe Bugner, Floyd Patterson again and at the time still Light Heavyweight champion Bob Foster before he was upset by top contender Ken Norton, who had a style that seemed to befuddle the former champion. In addition, Ali was forced to fight with a broken jaw for the last 11 rounds of his first encounter with Norton. Ali avenged the Norton loss on a close decision shortly afterwards. Meanwhile, Joe Frazier thrashed non-contenders Terry Daniels and Ron Stander in title defenses before taking on the young and dangerous puncher, George Foreman, who had won the 1968 Olympic Gold Medal at Heavyweight. Most thought that although Foreman had the power, Frazier was just too experienced and would break him down eventually. Howard Cosell, however, openly proclaimed that Foreman would win the belt and, it was at the Foreman-Frazier I fight that Don King began his warpath to become arguably the most powerful promoter of all time, entering Jamaica as part of Frazier’s entourage and leaving with Foreman, the new champion who dropped Frazier six times before the slaughter was stopped in the second round. Frazier would take only one warm up fight (against Joe Bugner) before facing Ali a second fight in what was essentially a contendership eliminator to face Foreman, who meanwhile was knocking Ken Norton silly in Venezuela and had stopped Jose Roman in 50 seconds previously. The second Ali-Frazier bout saw a more in shape Ali carefully outpoint Frazier in a rather disappointing bout, given their exciting first war.
The Frazier win set up the bout that most feared would happen: Ali vs. Foreman. Most feared that the former champion, who had slowed considerably in the years he could not fight and became a more hittable target as a result, would be an easy target for the power punching Foreman, one of the hardest hitters in the division’s history. Given that Ali struggled with Norton and Frazier, who were crushed by Foreman, all logic suggested that Ali would fall to Foreman as well. Even Ali’s camp feared for his life and looked like they were at a funeral prior to the bout. Ali, along with Don King, who created the $10 million purse (parity of $5 million for both Ali and Foreman) superfight by getting help from Mobutu Sésé Seko, the president for life of Zaire (later to be called the Congo) in funding the bout and having it hosted in Zaire, leading to King calling it the “Rumble in the Jungle”. The bout had to be rescheduled due to a cut sustained by Foreman in training camp for a few weeks. Although the full story on this fight can be read in The Life and Crimes of Don King: The shame of Boxing in America by Jack Newfield (which I highly recommend), the important part is that Ali ended up using the rope-a-dope technique, where he often laid on the ropes, covering his head and allowing Foreman to work the body (which he had conditioned) and gas himself up, then began to unload combinations as the fight wore on, finally dropping and stopping him in the eighth round, becoming the second champion to reclaim the World Heavyweight Championship.
While Ali beat Chuck Wepner, Ron Lyle and Joe Bugner (again) in title defenses, Frazier set himself up for his rubber match with Ali by defeating Jerry Quarry and Jimmy Ellis (both again). Finally, the final battle between the two legends was set: “The Thrilla in Manila”. Promoted by Don King, the bout was held at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines (not Manila as the fight label listed it as, probably since it didn’t rhyme). Both Ali and Frazier, who had been in wars throughout their careers, were approaching their twilight period, but they still had the will to engage in a war of attrition. Unlike their first battle which had more contrasting styles (Ali trying to out dance and counter Frazier’s tank-like style), this bout saw the two engage in a classic slugfest, with Ali having the upper hand early, Frazier taking the middle rounds and Ali finally battering Frazier into virtual submission at the end, causing horrible swelling and facial damage. Frazier told legendary trainer Eddie Futch after the fourteenth round that he was losing his sight and Eddie decided to throw in the towel. The embodiment of the trilogy came in their last, legendary conversation (copied from the Wikipedia entry on the fight):
“I want him boss,” Frazier shouted, to which Futch replied, “It’s all over. No one will forget what you did here today.”
Ali collapsed to the canvas, almost quitting on the stool himself from the incredible war he went through and finally gave Joe Frazier the respect he had deserved, saying he was one of the greatest fighters ever and that this fight was the closest he ever came to dying. The fight, which was 1975’s Ring Magazine Fight of the Year, is generally regarded as the far more brutal contest and, to a good deal of fans (including myself), the more superior bout between the ‘Fight of the Century’ and this one. Unfortunately for Ali, he was not wise enough to take heed of the damage he suffered in this bout and continued fighting for 7 more years, losing to professional Boxing newcomer and Olympic Gold Medalist Leon Spinks in 1978’s Ring Magazine Fight of the Year but avenging the losing and becoming the only 3 time World Heavyweight Champion in Boxing history. Unfortunately, he also received some highly questionable (gift) decisions against Jimmy Young and Ken Norton in his rubber match with him prior to the two Spinks bouts. Finally, Ali was humiliated in a TKO loss to his former sparring partner, Larry Holmes (one of the great HWs in his own right) where Angelo Dundee cursed out Bundini Brown’s pleading to allow Ali to continue while tossing in the towel and then embarrassed by Trevor Berbick in the final bout of his career. Frazier, meanwhile, ended his career by being bombed out by George Foreman again and then coming back 5 years later and being lucky to get a draw with Floyd Cummings before hanging it up for good.
So why has this feud become lodged in the minds of fans as one of the greatest feuds, if not the greatest, in the history of Boxing? In my opinion, there were several elements involved: (i) the immense interest in their first contest due to their undefeated nature and ideological differences as well as Ali’s constant taunting and vignette cutting against Frazier, (ii) the re-birth of Ali, beating Norton, Frazier and Foreman to build up his legacy once more and (iii) the legendary performances seen in the first and last bouts, with bout opponents winning one of those FOTY contests (Frazier in the ‘Fight of the Century’ and Ali in the ‘Thrilla in Manila’). The fights should that not only was Muhammad Ali a masterful Boxer, but he could slug with the best of them (in Joe Frazier) while Frazier was able to relentlessly pursue his bigger, flashier opponent and perhaps hurt him the worst out of anyone (with the possible exception of Holmes, which was way into his twilight years). Perhaps, most importantly, was the fact that Ali and Frazier essentially submitted to each other’s greatness after their last war and showed that in the end, a great series of battles could change even the most hardened of opponents.
Tony Zale and Rocky Graziano were two men whose paths to glory seemed totally different: Zale, on one hand, was a steel mill worker who did amateur Boxing contests at night and would eventually join World War II in the Navy; Graziano, on the other hand, was generally regarded as a delinquent, going to reform school, prison and military prison in his lifetime. However, both would meet in the ring on three occasions and each of those battles would be remembered by fans for decades as some of the bloodiest, brutal contests that the prize ring ever saw.
Tony Zale, after compiling an 87-8 amateur record, became a tough, middle of the road fighter for several years as a pro, not breaking through into the Ring Magazine top ten rankings until 1939. In 1940, Zale beat Al Hostak, the NBA Middleweight champion, in a non-title bout, and followed it up by beating Ben Brown and Hostak again for his belt. Zale also beat Fred Apostoli, a future Middleweight champion, but lost to Billy Soose in his only loss of the year. 1941 was another very good year for Zale, who beat Steve Mamakos and Hostak in NBA Middleweight title defenses, then became the World Middleweight Champion at year end by beating Georgie Abrams. In 1942, Zale would only have one bout, however, losing to Light Heavyweight great Billy Conn in a 12 round decision and then he went to war.
Meanwhile, Rocky Graziano had only begun his professional career in the same year Zale was shipped off to war, having a middle of the road career as well until early 1945 when he beat Billy Arnold and Al ‘Bummy’ Davis, then proceeded to KO Freddie ‘Red’ Cochrane twice in a row and beat Harold Green, who beat him twice in late 1944. In 1946, Graziano continued his hot streak, beating up Welterweight champion Marty Servo severally and stopped him in two rounds after claims were made that he was going to take a dive against Servo (a mob controlled fighter). Finally, with Zale beating 6 unranked opponents upon his return from military duty, the awaited Zale-Graziano clash was ready. Both men were regarded as potent punchers who could make comebacks at any time, which seemed to be instant chemistry in terms of excitement in the ring.
Their first bout did not disappoint the 39,827 fans in attendance at Yankee Stadium, where the nine year younger Graziano was expected to bomb out the older, more rusty Zale. However, it was Zale who opened up the fight with a first round knockdown of Graziano and brought heavy fire. Graziano, however, returned the favor in the second, dropping Zale and battering him senseless until the end of the fifth round, leaving him bloodied and apparently punch drunk in mid fight (he apparently had to be led by Referee Ruby Goldstein to his own corner after the fifth), but in the sixth round a right to the midsection and a left to the head took out the volatile Graziano. As Zale was carried around the ring by his entourage in victory, the AP news reporter would write “[Zale] looked like a man who had been in hand-to-hand combat with a buzzsaw.” Not only did the incredible war of attrition between the two warriors win the 1946 Ring Magazine Fight of the Year award, it also won the Fight of the Decade award. The action in the bout was non-stop, with neither man giving an inch to the other and taking a dreadful beating in the process.
While setting up the eagerly anticipated rematch (given that most fans at the time were calling it perhaps the most exciting bout of all time), both fighters took a number of tune-up bouts (Zale took 5 while Graziano took 2) and both stopped all of their opponents. However, on the way to the rematch, a near detour happened. Graziano had apparently failed to report 2 bribes made to him for $100,000 to take a dive to the athletic commission and had his New York Boxing license revoked. However, this just meant the bout would get moved to Chicago instead of being in New York (again). Finally, the rematch occurred on 7/16/47, and another classic was in the making. Graziano and Zale once again tore into each other again, with Graziano getting dropped but getting up instantly in the third round and while he was cut and badly hurt, he managed to corner Zale and batter him with about 30 unanswered punches to end the second war, yet again in the sixth round. Rocky Graziano, the hustler who was friends with Jake La Motta (another Middleweight of the era), had done it: he was World Middleweight Champion. Of course, due to his ban in New York, the NYSAC did not recognize the bout as for any Middleweight title of theirs. Once again, the two brawlers won Fight of the Year honors with Ring Magazine. And now that they had gone 1-1 with one another, there was immense demand for a rubber match (even though many argued that Jake La Motta had earned the right to fight for the Middleweight crown at this point).
Zale would have 3 tune-up bouts while Graziano had 1 prior to their rubber match. The 1948 finale, however, did not live up to the expectations of the first two give and take wars, as Zale managed to drop Graziano three times (once in round 1 and twice in round 3), forcing a KO win. The first round was rather competitive, however, and it was therefore not a complete dismantling. Still, both fighters seemed to be spent at this point. Zale would only make one defense (an unsuccessful one) against Marcel Cerdan, the great French Algerian who would in turn lose the Middleweight crown to Jake La Motta and be killed in a plane crash in the Azores before a rematch with La Motta could happen, later the same year and retired afterwards. Graziano, however, managed to continue fighting until 1952, beating Tony Janiro and Charley Fusari as noteworthy adversaries before being stopped by ‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson in 3 rounds (he, however, did deck Robinson briefly earlier in the last round) for the World Middleweight Championship and then lost to Chuck Davey, entering into retirement, himself. Graziano would become a somewhat successful actor afterwards, eventually having a film version of his autobiography, Somebody Up There Likes Me, made into a film with Paul Newman.
Once again, what exactly attracted these two men into one of the greatest ring wars in history? Unlike the case of Ali vs. Frazier, they were not undefeated entering their first bout nor did they have massive ideological differences. Instead, they were two rough, sometimes crude brawlers who risked everything for a chance at glory and were riding good win streaks over quality opposition of their period. Zale, on one hand, was the World War II veteran who did his country proud while Graziano was the army reject (through virtue of slugging some superior officers which landed him in military prison) who nonetheless was slugging his way through the division while Zale was off at war. Their first contest was pretty much a champion vs. #1 contender bout that had ‘fireworks’ written all over it, and luckily for everyone involved, they were not disappointed. As a result, the next 2 fights became attached with the first classic (although the second was a classic in its own right) and were big hits. In some regards, Zale-Graziano was a 40s version of Gatti-Ward, only both men were the top opponents in their division at the time (champion and #1 contender) and had defeated A and B level competition even with their patchy career beginnings. This feud, in essence, was the definitive ‘blood and guts’ classic, relying more on the sheer brutality of the contests than an underlying hatred or story to carry it over.
Gatti-Ward, in the early 00s, would often be considered in the same vein, with two guys who may not have hated each other’s guts, but still ‘brought it’ in 3 entertaining 10 round bouts (the first bout winning 2002’s Ring Magazine Fight of the Year while the third bout won 2003’s Ring Magazine Fight of the Year) where Gatti went down once in the first and third bouts (the first bout down being critical to the final decision loss on his end) and Ward went down once in the second bout. Also, both fighters bleed heavily and did not really understand the term ‘defense’, essentially becoming punching bags with arms and letting each other get swollen and bloodied as the crowd roared. While neither Ward nor Gatti are close in terms of achievement (or talent) to either Zale or Graziano, they nonetheless have made their own niche in Boxing trilogy history with their three brawls that had virtually no inactivity.
Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz, two mortal enemies who did not seem to have any mutual respect for one another, and probably still do not. Shamrock, a man who was one of the first MMA fighters and was an icon of his time versus the man who became a controversial yet charismatic and successful fighter in Tito Ortiz. At times their feud seemed more grounded in Pro Wrestling with the way that their promos were cut and the events that led up to their fights went, but in the end, they were involved in probably the biggest feud in MMA (as of today) besides Ortiz’s feud with Liddell and Liddell vs. Randy Couture.
Shamrock, on one hand, had been involved with the Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG) shoot-style Pro Wrestling organization along with other notable fighters in Minoru Suzuki and Masakatsu Funaki. Shamrock, Funaki and Suzuki eventually split off from PWFG, which had in turn been a split off of the old UWF shoot-style organization and formed their own organization, Pancrase, which, like SHOOTO was doing in relative obscurity at the time, would have legitimate finishes to the bouts (or at least claim to). Shamrock would main event the first card, submitting Funaki and would go 3-0 in Pancrase before heading to a new organization formed by Art Davie and Rorion Gracie and funded by Bob Meyrowitz’s Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG) called the Ultimate Fighting Championships. Intended to be: (i) a martial art vs. martial art competition and (ii) an exhibition of Gracie Jiu Jitsu (as Rorion and Royce would hope), the organization had a lot of press (albeit mainly negative given the ‘ANYTHING GOES! FIGHT TO THE DEATH!’ attitude presented by Gracie and Davie in terms of marketing; There was one point where a moat with dangerous animals was to surround the fighting ring, but that was thrown out eventually as cool heads prevailed) and Shamrock knew he could get some good attention if he played his cards right and won.
In the UFC 1 tournament, Shamrock quickly tapped out Pat Smith with a heel hook, garnering boos from the crowd as Shamrock won his quarter-final fight. In the semi-finals, however, Royce Gracie was able to quickly get Shamrock’s back and lock on a sleeve choke (one that looked like a reverse ezekiel choke) to force the tapout. However, the referee did not see the tap and motioned for the bout to continue. Gracie taunted Shamrock, telling him “You lost, damnit! Tell him you tapped out!” which, Shamrock hesitantly admitted was true. Gracie, who had easily won his quarter-final bout against Art ‘One Glove’ Jimmerson, a mediocre Boxer, by virtue of a takedown and getting position for a submission, went on to beat the now legendary dirty fighter Gerard Gordeau (who gouged Yuki Nakai in the eye before losing, leaving him permanently blind in the eye and also bit Gracie in their bout) in the finals to win the first UFC tournament (and would win the second and fourth tournaments later on).
Disappointed, Ken Shamrock went back to Pancrase in the interim and went 4-2 in Pancrase, his most notable win against Bas Rutten while he lost to Funaki and Suzuki. There is also listed a match with Matt Hume on the records (which he won), although the footage of the ‘fight’ shows some moments that approved blatantly worked (such as a Northern Lights Bomb at the end of the match) which brings into question the legitimacy on a number of the organization’s contests (another one will be discussed in a bit). Then, at UFC 3, Shamrock hoped to get a measure of revenge in the tournament against Royce Gracie, the man who beat him at UFC 1 in the semi-finals. Shamrock beat Christophe Leninger and Felix Mitchell in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, but claimed an injury before going to the finals against Harold Howard, the man who had won (by forfeit) against Royce Gracie, who was drained from his war with Kimo in the quarter-finals. Many claim that Shamrock claimed the injury as an excuse since his primary motivation to fight on (Royce Gracie) was now eliminated. Steve Jennum, an alternate, ended up winning UFC 3, ending Royce’s tournament domination streak.
Even though Shamrock had not won a UFC tournament nor beaten Royce Gracie, he was about to enter the 24 man King of Pancrase Openweight Championship tournament to crown the promotion’s champion fighter. Shamrock would end up winning the tournament, beating (of note) Funaki, Maurice Smith and Manabu Yamada in the finals. Shamrock would shortly after submit Rutten again, but he still yearned to beat Royce Gracie. Finally, at UFC 5, he had his guaranteed chance to face Gracie. He jumped at it and at UFC 5, in the evening’s superfight, he managed to take down Royce Gracie, control him and land weak shots and after they were back on their feet at overtime, he managed to give Gracie a nice raspberry, the only really good shot of the fight. Although he would have likely won the contest if there were judges in place, it was overall a pretty poor method of earning a ‘victory’ for Shamrock, who was likely afraid of another awkward submission from Gracie. In a way, this fight would have its karma against Shamrock in the second Dan Severn fight (as discussed in a bit).
Shortly after the Royce Gracie bout, Ken Shamrock lost his King of Pancrase Openweight title to Minoru Suzuki. There have been accusations that the bout was worked as Shamrock had basically advised Suzuki and Funaki that he was going to be focusing on the UFC. In any case, as a result Shamrock fought for the ‘Superfight championship’ against Dan Severn at UFC 6. Severn, a technical wrestler, basically attempted to pull a double leg takedown on Ken and was guillotined for his troubles, ramming into the Octagon and tapping out rather quickly given his lack of submission (defense) skills. Ken was now a champion in the UFC, and went 3-0 in Pancrase bouts while drawing with Oleg Taktarov at UFC 7 in a contest that saw Shamrock work over his stablemate (both were working in Shamrock’s Lions Den stable at the time) but at the same time trying to avoid any permanent damage to him. Shamrock would go on to kneebar Kimo in another defense of his Superfight champion crown, setting up the rematch with Dan Severn at UFC 9.
In a contest that is considered one of the worst in MMA history (even by Ken Shamrock himself as he admitted in his UFC video), Severn and Shamrock essentially circled each for over 20 minutes, a combination of being afraid of throwing a punch (as it was banned per a Detroit court order in order to allow the event to run) and Severn being afraid to try another takedown given the result in their first fight. Finally, Severn took down Shamrock, landed some strikes and was given a Split Decision, winning the Superfight belt, which would become merged with the UFC Heavyweight Championship shortly afterwards (by virtue of Mark Coleman beating him). Shamrock, meanwhile, would only have one more fight at this period in his career, beating Brian Johnston.
Meanwhile, Jacob ‘Tito’ Ortiz began his career as an unpaid ‘professional’ fighter (to keep his amateur wrestling record as he was still Wrestling in college) on the undercard of the UFC 13 Pay Per View in an alternates bout, beating Wes Albritton. The wrestler had apparently wanted to do MMA after seeing Jerry Bohlander’s success at UFC 12 (as he beat Bohlander in amateur wrestling). Tito then replaced an injured Enson Inoue in the finals of the tournament and faced off against veteran fighter and member of the Lions Den, Guy Mezger. Tito pummeled Mezger with knees on the ground and probably should have had a TKO win and the tournament awarded, but a standing restart after a cut check allowed Mezger to catch a shooting Tito in a guillotine and tap him out. Nonetheless, the fact that Tito Ortiz, a veteran of 1 MMA fight had nearly beaten a 19 fight veteran (and probably should have) elevated his status in the minds of virtually everyone that saw him.
Tito would return to the UFC and beat Lions Den stablemates Jerry Bohlander and Guy Mezger back-to-back at UFC 18 and 19 respectively. At the same time, his personality began to emerge, with T-shirts such as “I Just Fucked Your Ass” and “Gay Mezger is My Bitch” worn in his victories over both opponents (and he would continue this trend up to today). In addition, following the Mezger win, he gave the finger to the Lions Den, prompting Ken Shamrock to try and climb over the Octagon and scream at Tito at his blatant disrespect for his stable. This was the first step in the pathway towards Tito Ortiz-Ken Shamrock. But at the moment, Tito Ortiz was concerned about Ken’s adopted brother, Frank Shamrock, who was the UFC Middleweight (later Light Heavyweight) Champion. Shamrock, who had defended the belt that he won on 3 previous occasions, was up until that time the most dominant champion the UFC had and was a formidable opponent. Still, Tito felt he was ready and at UFC 22, he fought for the first time in his career for the UFC Middleweight (Light Heavyweight) championship.
The bout saw Tito taking down Shamrock down at will and controlling him for a good part of the contest. However, as the bout progressing, Tito’s gas tank quickly seemed to have depleted and finally, at 4:42 of Round 4, Tito fell under Shamrock, who escaped from the bottom and rained down hammerfists and punches, forcing a tapout from strikes. Shamrock would retire as undefeated UFC Middleweight Champion (fighting sporadically over the next few years and snapping his undefeated streak from 1997 against Renzo Gracie at Elite XC recently). After this bout, Tito learned the importance of conditioning and he has always stated that conditioning became a top facet of his gameplan for him to maintain.
At UFC 25, Tito Ortiz and Wanderlei Silva were matched up for the vacant UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. While Silva did stagger Ortiz, Ortiz managed to take down and control Silva to earn a Unanimous Decision and the Light Heavyweight Championship. Ortiz proceeded to take on and defeat Yuki Kondo, Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic and Vladimir Matyushenko, tying Frank Shamrock’s record in title defenses. Finally, it was time to teach Ken Shamrock a lesson.
Shamrock, meanwhile, had returned to MMA after a long stint in the WWF (now WWE) by appearing at PRIDE Fighting Championships in the 2000 Grand Prix finals in a ‘superfight’ against Alexander Otsuka, battering him silly until the referee stopped the bout late in the first round. Shamrock would then face ‘Iron head’ Kazuyuki Fujita at PRIDE 10 and while dominating the fight, staggering Fujita with huge bombs, Shamrock eventually had the towel thrown in. Some claimed that he had taken a dive, although all logic regard dives would dictate that Fujita would have battered him around the ring instead. Shamrock and his team claimed he had bad heart palpitations and he thought he was going to die. In any case, following a quick win over Sam Adkins, Shamrock was going to have a midway stop before taking on Tito: Don Frye.
Frye, an early MMA fighter himself who was known for his immense guts even while taking a beating (such as in the case of the first Mark Coleman bout) as well as his skills in the ring or cage, had apparently angered Shamrock by mentioning that Alicia Webb (Ryan Shamrock in the WWF) was half his age and was a prime reason in his divorce. Shamrock reasonably took offense. In what led to a very good bout for the time, Frye and Shamrock tried to outgrapple one another with leg locks as well as outstrike one another in a very close contest that was awarded to Frye by Split Decision. After this close loss that actually helped his reputation, Shamrock was ready to take on Tito Ortiz.
Shamrock and Ortiz had continually trash talked each other and, in one of the more famous filmed scenes in UFC history, a visibly angry Ken Shamrock at a press conference for the fight pointed to Tito and demanded Tito’s respect. Tito’s response? Uncontrollable laughter, which promptly Ken to kick a chair between him and Tito in UFC President Dana White’s general direction as people began to surround the two. Neither man had any real respect for the other; they wanted to prove their dominance as best as they could. Shamrock, however, said he had torn his ACL after the bout and apparently entered the contest injured (which, in reality, is not uncommon in combat sports, as legendary Boxing trainer Gil Clancy once said that if he had to wait for Emile Griffith to be 100%, he would have never fought). In any case, the fight, held on UFC 40: Vendetta, became the biggest drawing PPV of the time with 150,000 buys. It was an extremely one sided affair, with Tito taking down and pounding Shamrock’s face into hamburger. Tito was staggered and dropped to a knee for an instant by a Shamrock shot, however. After 3 rounds, the corner for Shamrock mercifully threw in the towel, ending the one sided affair.
Following the bout, both Shamrock and Ortiz took rather long layoffs (Shamrock for nearly 2 years and Ortiz for about 1). Ortiz was supposed to have faced Chuck Liddell, the #1 contender who defended his claim at UFC 40 against Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral with a brutal highlight reel head kick KO, but claimed that Liddell, who was once worthy of being publicly challenged, was now a ‘good friend’ and he also began salary arguments. Most fans felt that Ortiz was simply afraid of Liddell, who ended up losing to Randy Couture by TKO in an excellent fight at UFC 43 for the Interim Light Heavyweight title. Ortiz quickly jumped at the chance to face Couture instead, but ended up getting beaten decisively through take downs and constant ground and pound over 5 rounds, with the memorably highlight being Couture spanking Ortiz’s buttocks as he tried a last second leglock. Ortiz, visibly crying at losing such a wide decision, still showed the respectability of placing the Light Heavyweight belt around Couture’s waist.
After the title loss to Couture, Ortiz now had to face Chuck Liddell if he ever hoped to get another title shot at the Light Heavyweight championship again. Liddell, who had lost to Couture and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, wanted to rebuild himself so he could get his title shot that he should have gotten against Ortiz before. At UFC 47, Liddell managed to stuff Ortiz’s sprawl with excellent takedown defense and eventually KOd him early in the second round (though many, including Ortiz, claimed he was gouged in the eye during the fight ending flurry). With back to back losses, Ortiz had to pretty much start near the bottom to build himself up as a contender again. Ortiz would take on Patrick Cote at UFC 50, a relatively new MMA fighter and win a one sided but generally unimpressive Unanimous Decision given the skill differential. Ortiz would then have another bad performance at UFC 51, beating Vitor Belfort on a Split Decision where it was arguably if he won and even if he did, he looked pretty bad. At this point, Tito took about a year long hiatus.
Ken Shamrock had returned at UFC 48 to score a TKO victory over a man he had beaten once before, Kimo, using a knee. This would be his last career win (as of today). His next fight, on The Ultimate Fighter 1 season finale, saw him take on Rich ‘Ace’ Franklin, the rising UFC star who would soon go down to Middleweight and win the UFC Middleweight Champion (before losing it recently to Anderson Silva). Shamrock had one good moment in the fight, trapping Franklin in a modified heel hook, he eventually slipped while going for a high kick and was ground and pounded into a TKO stoppage. This was a form of ‘passing the torch’ from the older generation (who actually was inducted into the UFC HOF at UFC 45 with Royce Gracie) to the next, and, funny enough, would become a continuing trend (as seen with Royce Gracie taking a beating from Matt Hughes at UFC 60).
After the loss to Franklin, Shamrock appeared in PRIDE once more, facing fellow MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba in what was touted as a battle of legends. Sakuraba, however, would dropped Shamrock against the ropes quickly and earn a TKO victory which Shamrock quickly was yelling at the referee about (although he did look briefly defenseless). For Shamrock, however, no matter the amount of losses that were mounting up in recent months, he was still going to be valuable for the UFC.
Tito Ortiz returned to the UFC in early 2006 and faced Forrest Griffin, The Ultimate Fighter season 1 Light Heavyweight winner, in what turned out to be a grueling contest. Although Ortiz did dominate the first round, bloodying up Griffin with punches and elbows, Griffin was able to stuff Ortiz’s takedowns in the second round and for most of the third. Ortiz won another Split Decision, setting up the rematch with Ken Shamrock that the UFC was pushing to happen given the claims made by Ken Shamrock regarding his ACL injury in the first fight and the numbers it did the first time (as well as the expanded fanbase at this point).Â
The fight was built up through the third season of The Ultimate Fighter, with Ortiz and Shamrock trying to beat the other’s team as well as to get the occasional verbal pot shot in. On a few occasions, they did have scuffles and Shamrock trash talked the legitimacy of how much Ortiz cared about his team at the end of the series, which only added fuel to the fire. Finally, at UFC 61, Ortiz got ‘the final word’, taking down Shamrock quickly and elbowing him about 5 times before Herb Dean stopped the bout to boos from the crowd. Although Shamrock did not defend himself, he quickly got up and complained as well. The PPV ended up drawing 775,000 buys, a testament to the pre fight hype on TUF 3 and their hatred. The UFC decided that given the speed of the stoppage in the rematch, a third bout on free TV was acceptable.
On 10/10/06, Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3: The Final Chapter was held on free TV (Spike), and saw Ortiz once again smashing Shamrock, going 3-0 in their series. After the bout, an emotional Ortiz flipped off Shamrock, who shouted “Remember the money we made?!” back to him in apparent disbelief of the lack of compassion that a trilogy normally has (as seen in the above examples). Ortiz did relent and Shamrock said he was probably done at this point. Meanwhile, Ortiz was granted a rematch with Chuck Liddell at UFC 66 and reportedly drew over a million buys in losing to Liddell again in the third round by TKO from strikes. Where both men will go now is anyone’s question, but given that Ortiz is relatively young, he probably has a good number of years to go as a top drawing card.
So, why are fans interested in the Shamrock-Ortiz feud? The most likely reason has to do with the fact that, fundamentally, the vignettes both fighters made were grounded in the fundamentals of Pro Wrestling (“I hate this guy for this reason and I intend to kick his ass!”, etc.), but with genuine scenes of distaste and not a forced moment or two here and there. In addition, it is an ‘old generation’ (early MMA pioneer legend) vs. ‘new generation’ (more modern MMA superstar) feud, which has happened countless times in Boxing and Pro Wrestling. Probably the best variable is that both have wide exposure from their time in Pro Wrestling as well as in MMA so there can be crossover interest in both guys.
Overall, I would say that the forces that allow feuds like the aforementioned to not only happen but be successful are a wide range and sometimes requires that element that all want but few really get: luck. While we consider these as some of the greatest feuds of all time today, in 50 years, who knows how well they will be remembered when new feuds with similar characteristics and achievements occur?
Topics: All Topics, Boxing, MMA, Tomer Chen | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I usually hate it when people say “too long”, but I think maybe 8000+ words for an online MMA article is a little excessive…
Yeah, I think I may have overdone it. Ah well, it happens…
You compared two of the most storied rivalries in combat sports history to Tito vs. Ken??
Are you fuckin mad man?!?!…that was a pro wrestling angle that shouldnt have occurred once, let alone three times.
Yaaay it got good buyrates and that’s all well and good but seriously, talk about a HYPERBOLE!
Ken vs. Tito, despite it’s lopsided nature, drew monster business. It’s the feud that everyone loves to hate for existing, but casual fans ate it up.
Tomer’s the best pure MMA writer right now on all the major web sites. I have no issue regarding length of columns, because his material is usually always Grade A+. No one even comes close right now.
Certainly it was the most lopsided feud on paper of the three, but the fact of the matter is that the fans were enticed to buy UFC 40 & 59 or tune in to Spike TV and to see the final match-up between two guys, one of which obviously should have never been placed in the Octagon with the other merely because whatever hatred they had for each other seeped into their often Pro Wrestling-ish vignettes and press conferences. I would say the actual atmosphere of the trilogy spoke more of the hype by the media, UFC and fans to what really was an ugly match-up all three times (it was really more comparable to the superfight that was Jack Johnson-Jim Jeffries in 1910 than it was to Ali-Frazier or Zale-Graziano when talking about match-up building since Jeffires was fluffed up by the white world as the ‘Great White Hope’ and even the big writer of the era, Jack London, said that Jeffries “would wipe the smirk off the negro’s face”.)
In addition, one could make the argument that on paper, Ali-Frazier I looked like a mismatch since Ali had two fight in the last 3 years (one of which was pretty non competitive and one was a bit more competitive but still not a fight that would shake off such huge ring rust) whereas Frazier was tearing up the Heavyweight division during Ali’s forced absence. And considering it became one of the greatest moments in MSG history (there’s even a huge photograph of the bout in the entrance to the Garden with a summary of the war) and regarded by everyone with awe even with the stark reality that Ali was not physically conditioned to go to war with a virtual tank, I honestly think that feuds have more than the actual quality of the matchup, but also the atmosphere and ultimately the drawing power and media attention the matches bring.
I personally feel that the business element of the game is as important as the animosity of the fighters and the quality of the matchups on paper. Certainly there is a legitimate reason to shun the Ortiz-Shamrock trilogy as a hardcore fan because it was, on paper, a hideous matchup all three times, but it is simply amazing that the UFC had a goldmine from such a horrible matchup between the old guard and the new/current guard. And really, fans do remember epic matchups that were mismatches on paper (such as Jack Dempsey-Jess Willard, Jack Dempsey-Georges Carpentier, Jack Dempsey-Luis Angel Firpo, Thomas Hearns-Marvin Hagler and Mike Tyson-Michael Spinks) throughout history because, hey, even if with 20-20 hindsight it was all smoke and mirrors by the promoters and media, they were still huge events that marked key moments in the sport (and even some of those mismatches on paper became real wars such as Hagler-Hearns and Dempsey-Firpo) and get remembered forever.
I understand what you mean Tomer and I think its a great article. It’s just a “gag-reflex” when I hear people bring up that farce of a feud in the canon of fight history.
It was great for bringing the sport into the mainstream and they milked it for ALL it was worth and then some. But the fact that they pulled three fights out of a feud that needed no rematch (not much unlike the Tito-Chuck saga) leaves a bad taste in my mouth. After the first fight there was ZERO question who was the better fighter and there was no need for the rematches – thus why I really cannot/refuse to consider it a “great” rivalry if you will. I consider it a great rivalry like I consider Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes a great rivalry or something along those lines.
If readability is an issue, then I would suggest sub-headlines. The material is great, of course, but some sort of organization would help with the dr/tl comments out there… a single block of text 14 screens tall can look intimidating, especially in a web browser.
It is very good comment on up side matter