Ken Shamrock: I Still Want to Fight Kimbo Slice

Seth Petruzelli's 14 second destruction of “Kimbo Slice” Kevin Ferguson has generated acres of news print. Amid all the controversy - it is easy to forget that Seth was not even scheduled to fight in the main event and stepped up at the last minute.

Ken Shamrock was due to fight Slice, but was forced to pull out. Now, “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” has published an open letter on his personal website - to tell fans what happened from his point of view:

Shamrock says he still wants to get it on with Kimbo:

“On October 4th, I was set to fight "Kimbo Slice" Kevin Ferguson on the Elite Xtreme Combat: CBS Saturday Night Fights 3 in a highly anticipated event. Unfortunately, because of a training accident and the intervention of the Florida State Boxing Commission, our fight did not happen.

I suffered a cut above my left eye that required six stitches, and the cut was significant enough to cause the Florida State Boxing Commission to refuse to allow me to fight.

The scheduled bout with Kimbo on the EliteXC/CBS Saturday Night Fight card was a great opportunity, and it is unfortunate that I was unable to face Kimbo as planned. I want to apologize to all of my fans, and to the EliteXC and CBS executives who worked so hard to put this fight together. I also want to apologize to Kimbo, Bas Rutten and their entire camp for what happened. I recognize that I put them in a very bad situation, particularly Kimbo. It’s difficult to walk into the ring after training for one opponent only to find out hours before the fight that you have to face some you don’t know or have never seen fight.

Over the years there have been many great times as well as disappointing times and I know Saturday the fans were as disappointed as I was. I was worked up so I decided to train with my partners in order to stay focused on the fight. I was just doing a light roll to check holds when I got caught by a head butt. It was a freak accident and I didn’t think anything of it until I saw drops of blood. It appeared to be a deep laceration so I had my physician look at it and we immediately went to the emergency room. When they said the cut would require stitches, my heart sank because I knew that the Florida Boxing Commission would not let me fight. I was disappointed because I knew this was an opportunity to give the fans, my friends, and my family something to cheer about. It has been a hard couple of years for me, and for my fans. I have suffered some disappointing losses. I definitely regret my decision to train on the day of the fight.

I promise that I will make this up to all my fans. I know that there is nothing I can do about what occurred, but I plan to get back into the ring soon. I would like it to be against “Kimbo Slice”. Hopefully EliteXC/CBS will still be able to put a fight together. It’s is the right thing to do. The fans want it and I want it.

I would also like to congratulate Petruzelli on his win. He did a phenomenal job. Seth not accepted the challenge of facing a new opponent; he also had to move up in weight class. He came in, dominated Kimbo and walked away with a great victory.

To the fans, I appreciate all of your support.

Thank you and God Bless.

Ken Shamrock.”