Shawn Bias: A One Hit Wonder Who Wins a Fight for His Life

At first this writer’s investigation was to garner information for a bit piece. A small one. To my astonishment what I discovered was a fight not even Brock Lesnar would take.

Allow us to begin with the “bit” piece that was mentioned above. It was, after all, the reason the article was written. What this reporter witnessed on that hot, humid and muggy night was a great fight. A real fight.

That is to say, other than the antics of the fans that attended, the smell of bad beer everywhere, the absolute Hottest Ring Girls ever seen, it was a madhouse..

Several famous MMA stars were in attendance and the atmosphere was roucus. Rampage Jackson and Tito Ortiz were seen at the event supporting fighters from Team Punishment.

The crowd had just watched Rob “Razor” McCullough beat a hapless fool into the corner of the cage where the fight ended, tapped from strikes in about 40 seconds. It was a joke. The boy had no business being in a cage and to face Rob in your debut? Well, it was obvious management wanted some serious beatings to take place that night.

For example, the next fight featured a 155lb 0-1 fighter vs a 24-4 BJJ Master. Right. Not all of the fights were matched like this but you could just feel the crowd groan at the prospect of another sissy getting beaten senseless. They wanted a fight and were hungry for it.

The event was called KOTC:Prime Time. It took place in San Jacinto, Calif. on Aug. 5, 2005.

There were many good fights that evening. Some bad ones too. Fighters such as Rob McCullough, John Alessio, Thomas Denny, Joey Villasenor, Jorge Santiago…and Charles Bennet! (Charles’ fight ended in a DRAW against Victor Valenzuela). They all put on a good show.

The highlight of the entire night though was the fight between Shawn and John.

Shawn Bias is a mixed martial artist who has primarily competed in KOTC events. His current record stands at 13-8-1. Not stellar by any means.

He stands 5’9” and weighs in at 139 lbs.

It was an under card event, expected to be an easy win for John who owns and runs his own BJJ Studio. John came into the fight with a record of 24-4. Pretty Good. Shawn’s record? 0-1. In addition to this Shawn weighed in at 155 lbs, whereas John weighed about 167 lbs.

Other than his battle with De La O, the only other notable fight of Bias was a loss to Urijah Faber on Oct. 29, 2005 via Choke 1:21 into round one.

So if ever there were a fighter served up as meat for the slaughter it was Shawn Bias.

Fans cheered as De La O entered the ring. He had a large following at the event.

Shawn looked like he was going to be decimated by this BJJ expert and veteran fighter.

What match maker puts a guy with a 0-1 record, underweight by 10 pounds? No fans, no love, just another notch on John’s belt.

Shawn had other plans. After a short standup in which John made no attempt to land any blows, his focus entirely on submissions. John pulls guard to get Shawn on the ground. The fight would be over very soon.

John secured an extremely tight guillotine choke and held Shawn there for almost a minute. Shawn finally slipped his head out, lifted John off the ground and slammed him into the cage temporarily knocking him out.

Shawn proceeded to wake John up with a series of punches to the face from inside John’s now depleted guard.

John turns and gives up his back—Shawn SUBMITS him via a guillotine of his own—looked more like a full anaconda but they list it as a guillotine.

4:41 seconds and the BJJ master was submitted and sent home by the nobody they tried to sacrifice.

The crowd went insane. It was the most excited they would be all night.

It was extremely exciting and one of the best fights I have ever seen—definitely that night anyway—and this reporter saw about 20 fights that evening.

For one night anyway, Shawn was the greatest fighter in the world. Every dog has his day—and this day belonged to Shawn Bias.

Now for the bad news.

MMA fans should be happy that Shawn had his moment in the Sun because he ended up fighting in the hospital for his very life.

During an altercation with police following his defeat via triangle choke at PFC6: No Retreat, Shawn was assaulted by Police.

The following excerpt was reported by Josh Gross of Sherdog:

“Update 1/21 12:03 PM:

Sherdog’s Josh Gross has found that Bias was tasered and beaten before being arrested by Oroville police late Saturday evening, thus causing his heart attack and liver failure.

George Adkins, a training partner and close friend of Bias, told Sherdog.com that Bias was fighting for his life because Oroville Police Department officers Tasered Bias up to five times and struck him repeatedly with batons.

According to Adkins, who cited police, eyewitness and medical personnel accounts, Bias knocked on the door to the wrong party Saturday evening. Though Adkins said he didn’t know why, police were called to the scene. After finding his intended destination (another apartment in the complex) Bias purportedly went outside to apologize to officers who arrived on scene.

“Shawn allegedly took off running,” said Adkins, who acknowledged that he did not know of anyone who witnessed the incident from its inception. “They ended up getting him, and we don’t know exactly how or why he ended up being Tasered several times and struck several times.”*

*Credit Josh Gross, reporter for Sherdog.

Twenty-two years old and in a coma fighting for his life.

Apparently Bias was also sick for days before his fight in which he suffered minimal damage.

Shawn managed to shock the world for one night. He would later recieve a shock of a diferent kind. 

He knocked on the wrong door—tried to apologize, police show up, and Shawn’s in a coma.

No information is available as to charges that might be set against the officer’s involved. There do not appear to be any plans for renumeration, special care, or internal discipline of the local police force.

This is a real tragedy and MMA Fans and people everywhere should be pulling for this kid to make it. He is an underdog once again, in the biggest fight of his life.

He fought and won.

Shawn was released in February from the hospital—a survivor of a condition so serious that doctors gave him a 30 percent chance to live.

“There was a lot of unnecessary tasing and use of force against me. Someone with not as much will or training might have died,” Bias said. “A parent could be mourning over their child right now. The police didn’t know I was a cage fighter and that shouldn’t matter. They knew nothing about me.” Shawn declared upon his release.

Apparently, a one hit wonder can hit two.

 

-Marco Yanitelli “The Italian Scallion”