Shamrock Talks Smack to Hype Fight with Kimbo Slice

Ken Shamrock may have seen better days as a mixed martial arts fighter but he showed Thursday he still knows a thing or two about fight promotion as he sniped and snarled at opponent Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson on a conference call to promote their EliteXC fight Oct. 4 at Elite Xtreme Combat: CBS Saturday Night Fights 3 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Slice let Shamrock vent most of the time, but launched some verbal jabs of his own.

"Ken, I’m going to let you hit me," he said.

"You will?" responded Shamrock.

"I’m going to give you a shot, I’m going to give you a chin shot," said Slice.

"You guys heard that," Shamrock said. "Everybody heard that."

"I’m giving you that, buddy," Slice continued.

"See, and that’s why I’m the veteran and you’re the rookie," said Shamrock, "because you’re an idiot."

The menacing Slice is a former street fighter whom EliteXC is using as its marquee attraction in its four-card TV deal with CBS, which will air the October show live.

Shamrock is a name opponent, albeit one who is 44 and who has lost his last five fights, all in the first round. He hasn’t won in four years and is 2-8 since August 2000.

But the UFC Hall of Famer still talks a good game.

Shamrock, once billed as The World’s Most Dangerous Man, said he was insulted at being served up as a Kimbo Slice stepping stone, promising to "smash it back in their (promoters’) face."

He also took the opportunity to apologize for his recent MMA performances, which he said disgusted him.

"I have my reasons but they’re just excuses," he said. "But I will tell you this, on Oct. 4 I will shut everyone up and I will make amends for those fights by putting Kimbo’s lights out."

"I’ve been given an opportunity right here and now to wash all that away and I’m not passing that up," he added.

Shamrock, a former pro wrestler who took offence at several lines of question on the media call, said he was so sure of winning that he would shave Slice’s goatee after the fight.

"When you’re fighting a guy like Kimbo, experience has nothing to do with it," he said. "Because he’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast. He has all the abilities to go out there and hurt somebody and be very dangerous to anybody.

"So I’m not walking in and thinking that I’m smarter than he is and that I’m going to outskill him, and I’m going to do this to him and do that to him. I’m going to go in and do what I do and that’s beat people up. I’m going back to the old Ken Shamrock where I don’t care who you are, where you’re from, I don’t care who your family is, I’m going to beat you down and I’ll ask questions later."

Slice, whose real name is Kevin Ferguson, is coming off a spotty performance in a third-round TKO over James Thompson in which he looked sluggish and out of his depth when the fight went to the ground.

Slice, 34, said his game plan was to win the fight in the third round, after winning his first two fights by knockout in 43 and 38 seconds respectively.

"I’m still a rookie at it (MMA)," he said. "I have the heart of a giant and the willpower of 10 men."

"To beat him (Shamrock), that’s bragging rights, right there," he added. "That’s bragging rights in itself. I don’t care if I lose any other fight. If I beat Ken’s ass, I’m good."

Slice called Shamrock a legendary fighter. Shamrock did not return the favour.

"At this particular time, I have no respect for him. At all," he said.

"That’s why you’re an idiot," Slice responded.

"Well I guess we’ll find that out, won’t we jabroni?" said Shamrock, who promised to keep fighting win or lose.

Source: thechronicleherald.ca