The Hannibal TV recently caught up with former UFC champ and pro wrestling superstar Ken Shamrock, and they asked him how he thought he’d fare in MMA against Brock Lesnar. Not now, with Shamrock at the ripe old age of 53, having gone 2-5 over the past 10 years against questionable opponents. He’s talking about prime Shamrock, back in 1993, when he was one of the few men mixing martial arts.
“It’s not about bragging, it’s not about being better than somebody, it’s about skill sets,” Ken explained. “There’s no question in my mind that the times that I was in my prime, I was the most well rounded fighter out there. Or in the world. I was the one who could kickbox, I did kickbox in Japan. And I was a submission specialist going into the UFC for the very first time.”
“So I was the most well rounded fighter in there. And being able to fight a guy like Brock Lesnar, who was a wrestler, who has very limited skill set striking, in my prime, and him in his prime, he doesn’t have a chance. Because it’s the same thing as [Dan] Severn. How can you beat me? You can’t beat me. If I’m in my prime and I have all those skill sets in my prime and in his prime he was very limited in his skill sets, how can he beat me?”
We imagine Brock would do it the same way he beat several of the best heavyweights in the world: by getting on top of them and whacking them over and over with his ham sized fists. Size is a pretty good equalizer, and Shamrock was never a big heavyweight. We figure he wouldn’t even be considered a big light heavyweight in the days Lesnar was at his prime — a prime that had him dehydrating down from over 280 pounds to fit below the 265-pound heavyweight limit.
While we’ll never get to see the outcome of that hypothetical battle of the primes, Shamrock is still holding on to hope that maybe, just maybe, WWE will call him up and eventually give him another big run.
“I’ve captured every title there is in the world,” Shamrock said. “Everything but the [WWE] heavyweight title. I will hope that somewhere down the road, that all the differences be put aside and allow me to come back and at least get a shot at the heavyweight title. And I’d hope that Brock Lesnar has it, because I’d like to come after him.”
We think he has a better chance of fighting Brock in the cage (thanks, Bellator) than in the WWE ring for the heavyweight championship. But bless Ken Shamrock for dreaming big.
