Ken Shamrock discusses the evolution of MMA over the previous 30 years. The US-born Shamrock has been there because the very starting as he was competing in blended guidelines fight even earlier than the UFC started, after which competed within the very first UFC occasion.
Ken Shamrock on the Evolution of MMA
The early UFC occasions have been brutal. No guidelines, no gloves, no weight courses, and no deadlines. The game was shortly outlawed. Fighters typically engaged in brutal exchanges with few restrictions, akin to prohibitions in opposition to biting and groin photographs.
In Japan, Pancrase was the blended guidelines type of fight and it was an extension {of professional} wrestling, however actual grappling, moderately than road toughs that the UFC was selling. Pancrase used catch wrestling type shoots and open hand strikes.
Over time, the UFC applied extra guidelines and rules and have become acknowledged as an actual sport by athletic commissions. Pancrase would change its guidelines to be MMA moderately than catch wrestling.
Talking in an interview, MMA pioneer and legend Ken Shamrock defined:
“Again then, it was very a lot a road struggle with mainly no guidelines. Like we simply mentioned, there have been no weight courses, no biting, no groin photographs. I watched a struggle the place a man punched Joe Son within the groin thrice, and Joe Son needed to stop. Though that was unlawful, the opposite man nonetheless gained as a result of Joe Son couldn’t proceed. So clearly, it now, it’s organized, sanctioned, and there’s security concerned to some extent. It’s nonetheless combating, however it’s way more skilled.”
Not solely the fights themselves, however the coaching is totally completely different additionally. Ken Shamrock continued:
“It could contain being extra educated about your opponent and adapting to new coaching circumstances. Again within the day, conditioning was about enduring lengthy, steady fights with out rounds. At this time, fighters can go exhausting, relaxation for a minute, after which go once more. Conditioning now could be extra about dealing with explosive bursts and restoration between rounds.”
Joe Rogan admitted that among the early pioneers of MMA would nonetheless do properly in at the moment’s competitors, akin to Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie. Shamrock appreciated the praise:
“I admire that. I do imagine guys like myself and Royce Gracie might positively maintain our personal at the moment. We have been most likely among the many few with what we name skilled talent units in grappling. My experience in leg locks, for instance, would positively give me an edge. There aren’t many individuals who absolutely perceive them even now, as a result of they weren’t utilized in novice occasions, so no one practiced them. Once I fought in Japan, leg locks have been all we used. My data in that space was way more superior in contrast to what’s widespread in at the moment’s MMA.”
