UFC's Ortiz-Shamrock 3: The Ultimate Sham

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UFC's Ortiz-Shamrock 3: The Ultimate Sham
Submitted by: E.Goldman / Sr. Editor
Posted On 10/14/2006


It was less than a minute after referee Big John McCarthy had stopped the fight between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock on UFC's fight card Tuesday, October 10, held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla., and shown live in the U.S. on Spike TV. It was moments after Ortiz, victorious with a woefully predictable ground-and-pound attack in a mere two minutes and 23 seconds (143 seconds for those keeping track), had performed his usual postfight gravedigging pantomime.

The fallen Shamrock, whom TV announcer Joe Rogan told us 'was badly hurt,' suddenly rose to his feet, emerged from a circle of supporters, and approached the still-celebrating Ortiz, even before ring announcer Bruce Buffer had a chance to read the official decision.

At first, Ortiz rebuffed Shamrock, merely held up his hands, and started to walk away. But with members of both camps gathered around the combatants, and no UFC officials on camera between them (matchmaker Joe Silva walked away from them and UFC president Dana White, usually drawn to a camera like iron to a magnet, stood off-camera chewing gum), Shamrock started to talk to Ortiz and do much more than simply congratulate him.

While their entire conversation was hard to decipher and was not even transcribed on the telecast's closed captioning, Shamrock very clearly told his supposed bitter rival, 'We made a lot of money together' and 'It's all business.' They then embraced and Ortiz whispered something in Shamrock's ear.

A little later, Ortiz spoke with Rogan. He was twice fed the textbook softball questions about how he feels. When Rogan next spoke with Shamrock, who as expected confirmed his retirement as an active fighter, Ortiz returned to the camera.

'Our dispute is settled between each other. I apologize for the antics I did after,' Ortiz told Shamrock as the live telecast continued. 'You know, it's part of the game, part of entertainment,' he said, as Shamrock nodded. Ortiz added, 'You've been an awesome guy, someone I've always looked up to.'

All that was missing was pro “wrestling” announcer Jim Ross applauding this face turn while Jerry 'The King' Lawler or Jesse 'The Body' Ventura complained about it.

The accolades for Shamrock continued from the UFC announcers, who mentioned Shamrock's 'great battles with Royce Gracie' starting in Nov. 1993 in UFC I. Of course, that was a period which the present owners of the UFC and their media hirelings and parrots today like to decry as meaningless brawls involving brutes far inferior to the athletes of today. They also failed to mention Ken Shamrock's finest TV appearance outside the ring or cage, when in the mid-1990's he exposed the hypocrisy of Sen. John McCain on CNN's Larry King show by defending the relative safety of what was then known as no-holds-barred fighting and comparing it favorably to boxing. McCain, then actively campaigning to ban, abolish, and destroy the sport, was left babbling.

The day after Ortiz-Shamrock 3, Spike TV issued a news release announcing that the telecast had 'achieved record ratings for Spike TV and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.' One key number, as already reported on this site, was a 3.1 household rating, meaning that the show had been on in 2.8 million U.S. homes. An assortment of other statistics was also listed, including that this was the largest viewership ever for a UFC fight, and that more males age 18-34 had watched this fight head-to-head than the baseball playoff game between the Detroit Tigers and Oakland A's.

White was quoted in the news release as saying, 'Last night was a turning point for the UFC. This will further drive the evolution of mixed martial arts into a mainstream sport.'

Aside from the fact that few if any 'mainstream' sports would countenance such an unsportsmanlike ritual as Ortiz's, the response to all these record ratings should be: 'At what price?'

Just one day prior to this latest UFC show which White gushed was such 'a turning point,' the rating for Monday's 'Raw' show, put on by World 'Wrestling' Entertainment, was a 3.8. While attracting far more viewers than UFC's Tuesday show, that number was considered a disappointment by some in that business.

Nevertheless, when judging that product, proponents of real combat sports should look far beyond the number or even demographics of the people who watched these shows on television. Instead the focus must be on the social value and message delivered by these events and shows.

It is not just that W'W'E presents a staged pseudo-sport. So, for that matter, do the Harlem Globetrotters. While the former's shows are plainly idiotic and filled with despicable storylines, the latter's performances are usually good-natured, far from mean-spirited, and family-friendly. The same types of yardsticks can be used to examine the utility of any other form of entertainment, including those designed for a strictly adult set.

In this UFC show, instead of a main event pitting two top-ranked fighters against each other, we got the third rendition of a match whose verdict was clear four years ago when these two first fought. Instead of this latest affair being promoted as a sport, we were constantly implored that these two hated each other, for real, and that they were arch-enemies. Instead of sport, we got business, and were given THE business.

The only way that this bout might have been worthwhile as entertainment was if it were presented as an animation. Then at least it would have been more evident to all the viewers just what they were being presented.

Oh, for sure, this was a real fight and not a worked or fixed fight; why would you have to fix a fight anyway whose outcome is as certain as the equator being hot and the poles cold? All that was needed was to dress up a woeful mismatch in the clothing of sports and add a soundtrack of hate.

UFC is indeed picking up a lot of fans disaffected with W'W'E and the real, steroid -laden sports like baseball, and, of course, some former boxing aficionados. But what this show does mainly represent is a further devolution of UFC into a real-fight version of the fake pro 'wrestling.'

So let the fighters continue to make 'a lot of money together.' They will be gone anyway from the spotlight far sooner than the gum-chewers in black suits.

Just don't ask me to buy it, in any sense of the word. My concern is with the real combat sports, and of that there is quite enough quality, dignified, and important product to go around.

[Quil]

Ortiz has got something coming to him in November.

[rar1015]

Yeah he's not gonna beat Chuck.

[ITALIANMAN]

depends the way the fight goes if ortiz does his usual ground pound he has a chance but if he tries to stand up with chuck and box he will get knocked....

[Knockout_Power]

has anyone even brought chuck down since his first fight with Randy? Dude must have the best sprawl/takedown defense. Its always a possibility as anything can happen, but damn, he almost forces you to stand with him and we know how that ends up...

[zimmy]

why i never liked ortiz... i knew he was fake ... especially after that TUF show.

[Tedbear981]

has anyone even brought chuck down since his first fight with Randy? Dude must have the best sprawl/takedown defense. Its always a possibility as anything can happen, but damn, he almost forces you to stand with him and we know how that ends up...

Rampage Jackson did...numerous times, then stopped him with GnP...

[Knockout_Power]

Rampage Jackson did...numerous times, then stopped him with GnP...

oops, my bad. Almost forgot.

[Tedbear981]

oops, my bad. Almost forgot.

No biggie, just messin with ya!