Trivia / Ken Shamrock

• Flip-Flop of God: Shamrock revealed he underestimated Royce Gracie in his first match, but the reasons vary. In 2008 he claimed that he didn't know who Royce was and wrongly assumed he was a karate guy due to his gi, which led him to fight him as he would fight someone without grappling skills. In 2015, he alternatively stated he knew perfectly who Gracie was, claiming that he had even watched the Gracie in Action vids, but still came to believe he could beat him.
• Real Song Theme Tune: For most of his UFC career, he used Reveille's "What You Got."
• What Could Have Been:
  • He reportedly passed on an NFL tryout with the San Diego Chargers to pursue professional wrestling.
  • After his first tenure with UFC, he negotiated with several pro wrestling promotions, and WCW supposedly offered him a ton of money to play the jobber for them, as Eric Bischoff notoriously hated MMA. However, as the WWF threw to him a better offert, he went with them.
    • New Japan Pro-Wrestling wanted him to debut at the Tokyo Dome in the main event against IWGP champion Shinya Hashimoto. They wanted him to lose the first one, but promised him the title in a rematch. However Shamrock, after his dealings with Pancrase, was also leery of trusting the Japanese, so he ultimately declined. New Japan had already set up and announced Hashimoto vs. Shamrock at the Tokyo Dome when Shamrock informed them he was taking the WWF's offer, after which he was replaced by Naoya Ogawa.
    • The UFC, not realizing Shamrock had those kind of outside financial opportunities, got back into the game, offering Shamrock $100,000 per fight on a new deal, plus offered him the grudge fight he had talked about with Abbott. But with cable companies falling like dominos, Shamrock felt pro wrestling was more stable long-term.
  • He was slated to face Kimbo Slice at Elite XC's October 4, 2008 event on CBS television, but had to withdraw due to a cut over his eye. Seth Petruzelli, a relative unknown, got the spot instead and proceeded to flatten Slice in 14 seconds. Elite XC folded soon after.
  • He was supposed to face Mark Coleman at Pride 12, Igor Vovchanchyn at Pride 13, and Ian Freeman at UFC 43. Coleman backed out of their fight and Ken got injured before his fights with Igor and Ian and was replaced by his students Tra Telligman and Vernon White respectively.
  • He could have also faced Bobby Lashley at Roy Jones Jr.'s hybrid Boxing/MMA event "March Badness" event. The fight was cancelled after Ken tested positive for steroids and was suspended.
  • During his toughman days, he qualified to go to a state championship, but he missed it since he got an offer to tour All Japan Pro Wrestling. That toughman state championship was won by Eric "Butterbean" Esch.